Azerbaijan is among the top five countries with the largest number of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2020, stated in the message of the ECHR of January 28.
Out of 871 decisions made by the European Court last year, 37 were against Azerbaijan. According to the report, the most violated in Azerbaijan were the right to liberty and personal security, as well as a fair trial.
Azerbaijan is also one of the six countries from which the largest number of complaints were filed with the European Court. In particular, 2,000 applications from Azerbaijan are under consideration by the ECHR.
On April 3, 2019, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on deepening reforms in the judicial and legal system. The document provided for an increase in the transparency of the judicial system, the efficiency of legal proceedings, full and timely execution of court decisions, and the elimination of negative phenomena in the work of courts.
In this case, why is Azerbaijan one of the countries with the largest number of complaints to the ECHR and decisions of this body?
Fazail Agamaly, a member of the parliamentary committee on legal policy and state building, told Turan that the decisions of the ECHR more indicate that human rights are not violated at the official level, but are expressed in non-compliance with legal procedures during court proceedings.
According to the deputy, it is necessary to expand reforms in law enforcement bodies and the judicial system. “We need to make sure that personnel with modern legal knowledge and far from corporate and other interests are involved in the system, so that we are not among the leaders in the reports of the European Court for violation of procedures,” Agamaly said.
Agamali noted that Azerbaijan is one of the few countries where the rights of citizens are protected. “Unfortunately, the heads and members of some parties in some cases try to politicize criminal cases. In fact, they give rise to anti-Azerbaijani circles who are trying to use this as pressure on Azerbaijan,” he said.
The MP believes that the course of judicial and legal reform initiated by President Ilham Aliyev will become more intensive, comprehensive and systemic in the coming months. “I think that all this will not be repeated by new highly qualified lawyers involved in the reform process,” the deputy believes.
However, according to the co-founder of the Baku Human Rights Club, Rasul Jafarov, the ECHR report has become another confirmation of the need for real judicial reform in the country.
“Very serious and fundamental changes must take place in the judicial system of Azerbaijan. In recent years, there have been some changes, but not fundamental, but rather technical, they did not fully ensure the independence of the judiciary,” Jafarov said.
In his opinion, the high statistics of the ECtHR decisions on Azerbaijan is because local courts do not conduct an objective and fair investigation.
Jafarov also touched upon the issue of the execution of decisions of the European Court, which is more connected with political will. “Execution of decisions is carried out by the highest court, that is, by the Plenum of the Supreme Court on the recommendation of the permanent representative of Azerbaijan in the European Court. Some submissions are made late for the Plenum, in some cases no submissions are made at all, and some decisions are considered late.
To date, the ECHR issued 215 decisions against Azerbaijan. The right to a fair trial is violated most of all in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan ranks first among the countries of the Council of Europe for violation of electoral rights. Thus, violation of this right was recognized in 25 cases from Azerbaijan.
Turan
