Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Azerbaijan about the case of Ilga Mammadov.

We have raised the case of Ilgar Mammadov on a number of occasions since his arrest in February 2013. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), and the Minister for Europe, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr Lidington), raised it bilaterally with the Government of Azerbaijan during their visits to Baku in December 2013 and November 2014 respectively. The UK issued a press statement in March 2014, expressing concern about the length of the sentence and the conduct of the trial. In the Council of Europe the UK has repeatedly called for the Government of Azerbaijan to fully implement the European Court of Human Rights judgement and release Mr Mammadov.