Number of Judges in Azerbaijan to Increase by 200

Baku / 04.04.19 / Turan: President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree "On deepening reforms in the judicial legal system" on April 3.

The courts were recommended "to strictly observe justice, legality, impartiality, openness, equality of everyone before the law and the court, and other principles of justice enshrined in the Constitution and laws of the Azerbaijan Republic".

In order to continue measures to humanize the policy of punishing and decriminalizing crimes, the President recommended this to the Supreme Court and the General Prosecutor's Office, and the Justice Ministry was charged with drafting the relevant draft laws within a three-month period.

It also provides that the Supreme Court, the Judicial Legal Council (JLC) and the Ministry of Justice will prepare, within two months, a draft law on the establishment of a specialized court on disputes arising in connection with tax and customs payments, payment of compulsory state social insurance contributions, as well as other issues related to business activities.

This court is created to facilitate the appeal of entrepreneurs to the court, and the consideration of disputes by judges with deeper legal knowledge and experience.

The decree provides for the improvement of mechanisms to prevent interference in the activities of courts and increase responsibility for such interference.

It is supposed to differentiate the rates of state duty paid on the pending cases, in accordance with the volume of claims.

Part of the state duty is to be sent to strengthen the social protection of court employees and to strengthen the material and technical base of the courts.

It is planned to introduce continuous audio recording of all court sessions in order to fully ensure the objectivity of the proceedings and draw up a protocol in accordance with the audio recording.

In order to ensure the independence of judges and eliminate interference in the activities of courts and other negative facts, the JLC was recommended to create a hotline to receive relevant information.

The JLC is also intended to ensure the inevitability of the disciplinary responsibility of judges who have committed offenses and violations of the Code of Ethical Conduct of Judges.

In order to better ensure openness and impartiality in the administration of justice, it is necessary to publish court decisions electronically;

The Ministry of Justice is charged with taking serious measures to ensure the execution of decisions of courts and other bodies within the time limits established by law, expanding the use of the Electronic Execution information system, and preventing executive officials from accepting red tape and abuse.

The Ministry of Justice is also instructed to analyze international experience related to alternative forensic examination mechanisms, including examination by private entities, and to submit relevant proposals within 3 months.

In order to optimally structure the activities of the courts and improve the quality of justice and shorten the time for consideration of cases, the total number of judges is to be increased by 200 people.

It also provides for the future allocation of funds from the state budget for legal assistance provided at the expense of the state by the Bar Association.

Currently, the number of judges in Azerbaijan is 550. -06D--