On 18 April 2012, Idrak Abbasov, a journalist at Zerkalo and the Institute for Reporters’ Freedoms and Safety, was filming the demolition of houses illegally constructed in the Sulutepe settlement on the outskirts of Baku. The houses, located on land owned by SOCAR, were being demolished by the company to reclaim its land. Residents were protesting the demolition.

Idrak Abbasov was attacked by SOCAR security guards. They beat him kicked until he lost consciousness. He was hospitalised with multiple bruises and hematomas and blood all over his face.

It was reported that the police was present at the scene, but it did not intervene to stop the security guards’ brutal attack. Others, including Idrak’s brothers and fellow journalists, were reportedly prevented from helping him and were also attacked.

Idrak lodged complaints with the authorities. Although a case was opened, the case did not advance. Thus, he complained to a domestic court about the authorities’ failure to investigate what had happened to him. In 2013 a Baku court rejected his complaint as inadmissible.

Idrak decided to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. On 1 October 2020 the ECtHR found Azerbaijan responsible for the ill-treatment of the journalist. The Court found that the police’s inaction had constituted a substantive violation of the journalist’s right to freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, and that the authorities had also later failed to properly investigate his claims. SOCAR’s employees, whilst not state representatives, “acted with the State’s acquiescence or connivance”, and were therefore directly responsible.