Ali Kerimli, an opposition politician and chairman of the reformist wing of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party has no international passport. The government of Azerbaijan refused to renew this document since 2006. At the time of the application, Kerimli was informed there were criminal proceedings against him - illegal possession of a hang grenade reported in 1994. Since then Kerimli on a number of occasions argued this charge had become time-barred and that the charges legally must be discontinued.
However the decision to discontinue the criminal proceedings was never made. Kerimli remained without a passport.
He took this case into the European Court of Human Rights in 2009 on the grounds of infringement of freedom to movement under Articl 2.2 of Protocol no.4 (freedom of movement). On July 17, the Court ruled the violation of this article and obliged Azerbaijan to pay Kerimli 5,000EUR for non-pecuniary damage and 3,600EUR for costs and expenses.
It is still uknown whether Kerimli will get new travel document following this decision.