The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is to examine whether Azerbaijan has refused to abide by the ECHR’s judgment in the case of imprisoned opposition politician Ilgar Mammadov, the first use of a new infringement procedure, ECHR said in a statement.

The procedure was introduced into the European Convention on Human Rights in 2010 and allows the Committee of Ministers, which has the responsibility under the Convention for supervising the execution of the Court’s judgments, to refer a question to the ECHR about whether a country has refused to abide by a final judgment.

The Committee decided on 5 December 2017 to launch the proceedings against Azerbaijan owing to the authorities’ persistent refusal to ensure Mr Mammadov’s unconditional release following the ECHR’s 2014 finding of multiple violations of his rights. The ECHR received the formal request from the Committee on 11 December.

The Grand Chamber might also decide to hold a hearing. If the Grand Chamber finds a violation because Azerbaijan has failed to abide by the ECHR’s judgment of 2014 in the case, it will refer the case back to the Committee of Ministers for consideration of the measures to be taken. A finding of no violation also leads to the case being referred back to the Committee of Ministers, which then closes its examination.