Lawyers sound the alarm: amendments to the law will destroy judicial defense

Baku/25.06.21/Turan: On June 25, the Milli Majlis will consider proposals on reforming judicial proceedings. The deputies were asked to consider the right of judges to fine lawyers for presenting unfounded (at judge' discretion) petitions for conducting an expert examination and summoning a witness to the trial, etc. The initiators of the reforms believe that this innovation is required to prevent the delay of trials and ensure prompt judicial proceedings.

Also, a monetary penalty is provided for not presenting evidence in line with the information provided.

Commenting on Turan innovations, lawyer Lachin Veliyev called them "moronism directed to eliminating the institution of judicial protection." If the amendments are adopted, the lawyers will demand from defendants an inflated payment for their work to compensate for possible fines.

It ought to be noted "99% of defense petitions in Azerbaijani courts are rejected, for judges qualify them unfounded. From now on, lawyers will be fined. The very system of protection in the courts will collapse, and the prosecution will prevail which is contrary to the law," Veliyev said.

It should be added that lawyers will simply cease applying to the court with their petitions, and as a result, the institute of defense will cease to exist, the lawyer believes.

In turn, lawyer Shakhla Gumbatova considers the proposed reforms "very harmful". Commenting on these proposals to the Turan agency, she said that the innovations will make protection flatly "impossible".

Also, she believes that 99% of defense petitions are rejected by judges. "It is absurd to fine lawyers for this, they will simply lose their freedom of action," Gumbatova said.

To her thinking, the proposed reform aims at depriving the accused of the defense in political cases. "Judges in such trials fulfill the orders of the authorities, and will punish lawyers with fines. This will lead to the situation where lawyers refuse to defend political figures and other critics of the government, so the courts will become a mere formality.

It should be emphasized that in some trials the lawyers defend rights of 10-20 defendants. It is possible to imagine the amount of fines if the defense puts forward, at least, one petition per each accused.

The authors of the proposal to apply in the legislation are going to set a fine of 500 manats for each petition which is objectionable to the judge, " Gumbatova noted.

In turn, MP, lawyer Fazil Mustafa also opposed the proposed amendments. He believes that the imposition of increased monetary sanctions on trial participants is not a solution to the problem. To speed up the trials, it is not fines that are needed but improvement of the professionalism of judges. The proposed amendments are likely to raise the subjectivity of judges when making verdicts and destroy the principle of equality of rights of the defense and the prosecution. –0--