ANNAGI HAJIBEYLI v. AZERBAIJAN JUDGMENT 11 are essentially the same as those examined in the Tahirov judgment. The facts of both cases are similar to a significant degree. The Court considers that its analysis and conclusions made in the Tahirov judgment also apply to the present case. In particular, the Court noted the existence of serious concerns regarding the impartiality of the electoral commissions, lack of transparency in their activity, and various shortcomings in the procedure (ibid., §§ 60-61), a lack of clear and sufficient information about the professional qualifications and the criteria for appointment of workinggroup experts charged with the task of examining signature sheets ((ibid., §§ 63-64), failure by the electoral commissions and courts to take any further investigative steps to confirm the experts’ opinions on the authenticity or otherwise of signatures ((ibid., § 65), systematic failure by the electoral commissions to abide by a number of statutory safeguards designed to protect nominated candidates from arbitrary decisions (ibid., §§ 66-68 and 69), failure by the electoral commissions and courts to take into account the relevant and substantial evidence submitted by the candidate in an attempt to challenge the working-group experts’ findings on the authenticity or otherwise of signatures (ibid., § 69), and the failure by the domestic courts to deal with the appeals in an appropriate manner (ibid., § 70). Having regard to the above, the Court found that, in practice, the applicant in the Tahirov judgment was not afforded sufficient safeguards to prevent an arbitrary decision to refuse his registration as a candidate. 54. Having regard to the facts of the present case and their significant similarity to those of the Tahirov case on all relevant and crucial points, the Court sees no particular circumstances that could compel it to deviate from its findings in the Tahirov case, and finds that in the present case the applicant’s right to stand as a candidate was breached for the same reasons as those outlined above. 55. There has accordingly been a violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention. III. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 34 OF THE CONVENTION 56. By a fax of 9 September 2014 the applicant’s representative Mr Aliyev introduced a new complaint on behalf of the applicant, arguing that the seizure from his office of the entire case file relating to the applicant’s pending case before the Court, together with all the other case files, had amounted to a hindrance to the exercise of the applicant’s right of individual petition under Article 34 of the Convention, the relevant parts of which read as follows: “The Court may receive applications from any person ... claiming to be the victim of a violation by one of the High Contracting Parties of the rights set forth in the Convention or the Protocols thereto. The High Contracting Parties undertake not to hinder in any way the effective exercise of this right.”