The facts of violence must be documented, Kamil Salimov

Baku//23.12.17/Turan: Kamil Salimov, Doctor of Law Sciences, shared his opinion on the effectiveness of state measures on liberalization in places of imprisonment in Azerbaijan.

- Despite the liberalization of punishment and the reform of the penitentiary system, not a single life-long prisoner in Azerbaijan was released. Why?

- Do not forget about the feelings of the relatives of the victims of the crime. The "lifers" are convicted of more than one murder or murder committed with particular cruelty. In Azerbaijan women are not condemned for life imprisonment, but in Georgia this is possible. Recently, a woman in Azerbaijan was sentenced to 15 years for the murder of two children. She behaves disciplined, she has underage children, but the court decision and the grave crime committed by her remain.

In 1998, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the life sentences that replaced the death penalty. That is, life imprisonment in Azerbaijan remained in force. Such criminals in Azerbaijan can be pardoned by a presidential decree or amnesty. After 25 years of imprisonment, life-long convicts may be released ahead of time by decision of a special commission. But for 25 years they must remain in custody, not committing violations of internal order.

- A former businessman, whose history has no murder, is serving life imprisonment in the prison in Gobustan ...

"That's what he says." I, as a lawyer, cannot question the verdict of the court that came into force. I have no right to go beyond the limits of the law and to say that it is not my fault. It's another matter if the conditions of imprisonment are unacceptable - then I, as a human rights defender, can raise the issue of the conditions for the execution of punishment.

- It has happened more than once that the convicted or suspected people claim tortures committed over them, even claim it in the courts. The judge proposes to the untried person to behave "like a real man". The blogger Mehman Huseynov announced tortures over him in the police department. But allegations of torture are not taken into account. The Ombudsman's apparatus urgently reacts to appeals from prisons, and finds no evidence of torture. Not necessarily this beating, there may be psychological violence, threats to punish relatives. What is reform then?

"A lot depends on the circumstances." In the investigation of the crime from the first steps, the attorney takes part. When transferring the convict from the police department to the detention center and from there to the penitentiary institution, a person must be examined and examined by medical personnel. It cannot be that the damage found on the body, the trace of torture was ignored and was not fixed in the act. The fact of physical violence is revealed. On the proposal of the Ombudsman, the employees of the police and penitentiary institutions are released from work.

If there has been a violation of human rights in places of detention, then it is necessary to apply to a lawyer, having concluded a contract with him, to file a complaint with a higher authority. I do not exclude that we are beaten in our detention facilities, colonies and prisons, but such cases must be documented and recorded in a personal card if the person is in the remand center. Complaints about beatings should be treated professionally, referring to the appropriate structures. Do not forget that people who committed crimes are held in places of deprivation of liberty.

The fight against such cases is also conducted by human rights defenders through educational methods. We distribute books containing departmental acts , and legislative documents on the rules of detention. We want to strengthen the effectiveness of public control over places of detention in Azerbaijan.