Alaif Hasanov is in litigation with the Bar Association, demanding to restore his legal powers

Baku/09.04.21/Turan: Lawyer Alaif Hasanov filed a lawsuit against the Azerbaijani Bar Association with a demand to restore his membership in this body. Six years ago, he was expelled from the collegium in connection with a court decision, according to which he was sentenced to 240 hours of community service under Article 148 of the Criminal Code ("Insult").

However, in fact, Hasanov was punished and accused of publicizing the facts of harassment in prison, director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, Leyla Yunus. “This was used as an excuse to remove me from the legal profession, so that I could not defend citizens persecuted for political reasons and victims of arbitrary actions by officials. However, there was no disciplinary proceedings against me, and the law allows the restoration of legal powers after the expiration of the sentence," Hasanov told Turan.

According to Article 8.1 of the Law on Lawyers and Advocate Activity of Azerbaijan, former judges and lawyers can apply to join the collegium without a test exam, but only by interview. In 2017, 2018, and 2019 Alaif Hasanov three times applied to the qualification commission of the Bar Association for an oral interview, but in vain. He was simply ignored. Finally, in 2020, after he filed a lawsuit against the Bar Association with a demand to clarify the reason for ignoring his appeals, he was invited. However, the qualification commission found him “unfit” for the legal profession, without explaining the reason.

The hearings on the claim took place on April 6 at the Sheki Administrative Court. Hasanov petitioned to summon the head of the Collegium Anar Bagirov to the court as a witness. Earlier Bagirov, in an interview with journalist Avaz Zeynalov on Youtube channel, said that the qualification commission does not assess the legal knowledge of candidates for lawyers, but only checks their "ability to speak."

“That I can say, probably no one should doubt it, since I previously worked as a lawyer, and I still have numerous appearances on Youtube, collecting up to 1 million views. However, my request was not granted, "Hasanov said.

Then he presented to the court two decisions of the Qualification Commission, which in one recognized the admission of the lawyer Jamal Bagirzadeh to the Bar as "acceptable", but after a while declared it "inadmissible". This is an indicator of the style and methods of work of the commission, which easily changes its decisions at the direction of the leadership of the Board.

The court postponed the decision and scheduled the next session for April 16, Alaif Hasanov said. According to him, Strasbourg completed in 2018-2019 communication on two of his complaints - an illegal sentence and an unjustified expulsion from the Collegium.  –06В-