Insanov's party is registered, but the socialists' party is denied

Baku/22.10.21/Turan: The Party of Law and Justice, headed by ex-Minister of Health Ali Insanov, is registered by the Ministry of Justice. Insanov was arrested in 2005 and dismissed from his post of minister on charges of attempting a coup. However, later the charge was changed to economic crimes.

He was sentenced to 11 years, and a few months before his release, he was charged with possession of psychotropic substances and assaulting a prison officer. On these charges, he was sentenced to another 7 years. However, in March 2019, he was pardoned and, upon leaving the prison, again attacked the country's leadership. After some time, Insanov founded his own party, which is not yet distinguished by special political activity.

Another party that received state registration was the Azerbaijan Revival Party.

Today there are 58 officially registered parties in Azerbaijan. Moreover, 7 of them were registered last year, two - this year. At the same time, there are parties that have not been able to obtain registration for years.

Commenting on this issue, member of the control and revision commission of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, MP Elman Nasirov noted that after the 2018 presidential elections, President Ilham Aliyev announced “comprehensive reforms”, which also include the formation of “inter-party dialogue”.

As for unregistered parties, this is not connected with any administrative obstacles, but with the need to comply with certain legal procedures, Nasirov said.

However, according to the head of the Socialist Party of Azerbaijan Elshan Hasanov, this organization has been unable to obtain registration for many years, although all documents are in order. “We founded the party 21 years ago and submitted documents to the Ministry of Justice. Since 2002, we have received only refusal responses from the Ministry. We applied for registration in 2003, 2005, 2008 and 2015. But each time, under the pretext of “shortcomings”, we are denied registration, ”Hasanov said.

After the authorities called for a dialogue, the socialists made contact, but this did not help them again refused registration, Hasanov said.

He noted that the socialists went to court. The Baku Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the Ministry of Justice, but the Supreme Court returned the cases for a reconsideration of the appeal instance. “Currently, the process has been postponed. If the local courts refuse us, we will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights,” Hasanov said.

He believes that parties are denied registration for political reasons. “I was repeatedly given to understand that without instructions from the political leadership, the Ministry of Justice cannot register a party,” Hasanov said.

Lawyer Alasgar Mammadli believes that the resumption of registration of parties after many years is connected with the decision of the European Court. “There were several appeals to the European Court on this issue, and the Azerbaijani government undertook to resolve the issue by taking written commitments to comply with the requirements of the law,” Mammadli said. In his opinion, the last registration of parties is carried out within the framework of this process.

“In addition, lately the authorities have been trying to create the appearance of a dialogue in society by registering individual parties and allocating offices for them. If everything is limited to this, it will become nothing more than an imitation of a dialogue,” Mammadli said. –06D-