Two half-day training sessions on some aspects of freedom of expression for judge candidates undergoing the preparatory training phase of the judicial selection process at the Academy of Justice of Azerbaijan took place on 11 October 2017  in Baku. The training sessions provided a useful opportunity to address some developing and difficult issues emerging from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights that should be of particular concern for the judiciary. The issues addressed were freedom of expression standards in traditional media and on the internet and ECHR’s case law, the balance between the right to privacy and the right to freedom of expression and the right to access to information. The main aim of the training sessions was to raise awareness on Council of Europe standards on freedom of expression and media freedom among judge candidates and to give the floor to open discussions. 125 judge candidates were trained on Council of Europe  standards on freedom of expression and media freedom. A Guide to the Interpretation and Meaning of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights translated into Azerbaijani was disseminated among participants.

The training sessions were organised within the framework of the Council of Europe / European Union Joint Project  “Freedom of expression and media freedom in Azerbaijan”, implemented under the CoE / EU Programme “Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) .