Baku / 25.11.17 / Turan: A group of prominent representatives of the legal community, political parties, civil society and the media of Azerbaijan participated in a scientific and practical conference on Problems of the Right to Defense: Realities and Perspectives on November 25.
The conference was organized by well-known lawyers and public figures - Gurban Mammadov and Matlab Mutallimli, as well as the human rights journalist Avaz Zeynally. Reports were made by well-known lawyers, who for a long time practiced legal defense, Khalid Baghirov, Namizad Safarov, Fuad Agayev and others.
The participants of the event expressed concern over the amendments to the legislation adopted by the Milli Majlis on October 31, which actually liquidate the institution of representation of citizens in courts. According to the innovations since January 1, 2018 citizens will be represented in all cases in courts only by professional lawyers - members of the Bar Association. The institution of representation is limited to a minimum. In addition to lawyers, only close relatives of citizens can represent them in civil and administrative cases, and legal persons can be represented by their full-time employees.
The participants of the conference unanimously noted that in the conditions when Azerbaijan occupies one of the last places in the world in terms of the number of lawyers per capita population, these innovations will actually deprive citizens of defense. 930 lawyers per 10 million population will not cope with ensuring the protection of citizens in courts.
The conference participants adopted an appeal to the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Speaker of the Parliament Ogtay Asadov, in which they put forward proposals on reforming the legal defense system.
First of all, it is proposed to hold public discussions under the President on the issue with the participation of barristers, lawyers involved in representation in courts, court chairmen, representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General's Office, the State Security Service and the Penitentiary Service.
Further it is proposed to postpone the entry into force of the innovations in the legislation prohibiting representation in courts by persons who are not lawyers before December 31, 2018.
It is proposed to speed up the admission of new members to the Bar. At the same time, it is suggested that lawyers carrying out representation in courts should be admitted to the Bar by January 1, 2018, without preconditions.
It is recommended to put an end to the practice when lawyers are deprived of their powers on the basis of request of the prosecutor's office and other investigative bodies.
The authors of the appeal consider it important to restore the powers of the lawyers previously expelled from the Bar (except for those convicted of committing crimes).
It is proposed to create a special structure of lawyers who provide legal assistance at the state expense and provide them with high fees and bonuses for the nature and scope of the cases they conduct.
It is also recommended to add norms allowing defendants, victims and plaintiffs, on the basis of their petitions, to appoint any person as their defender and representative to the criminal procedural, civil procedural and administrative procedural codes.
The authors of the appeal suggest reforming the governing bodies of the Bar Association after the admission of new members. In addition, there is a need to abolish the examination for joining the Bar Association and instead introduce a procedure for passing a one-year internship. It is also proposed to cancel three-year qualification of legal experience for admission to the Bar.
A lawyer may be deprived of his powers only for committing crimes related to advocacy after the entry into force of a court verdict, or for committing acts incompatible with the legal status.
It is also recommended to create conditions for the formation of alternative Bar Associations.
In conclusion, it is proposed to release lawyers from all types of taxation. -06D-
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