TheCommittee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution calling for the immediate cancellation of the criminal record of a group of journalists, human rights activists and activists from Azerbaijan, said the head of the Monitoring Group of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, lawyer Khaled Agaliyev, Turan reports.

The document was adopted at a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe dedicated to monitoring the execution of ECtHR judgments.

The judgments of the ECtHR indicate that these applicants were persecuted for criticizing the authorities and that Article 18 of the European Convention was violated against them. This means that their persecution was politically motivated.

The applicants were released early from prison, but did not receive rehabilitation, so having a criminal record restricts their rights.

Therefore, the Committee of Ministers called on the Azerbaijani authorities to fully comply with the decisions of the ECtHR regarding these persons.