Judicial Complex Project with WB

Today, with the participation of President Ilham Aliyev opened the Sabunchu court complex. The new seven-storey building includes the District Court and Baku Administrative Economic Court No 2.

The building was constructed under the project Modernization of the Justice System funded by the Government of Azerbaijan jointly with the World Bank.

The complex has 14 courtrooms as well as offices of judges, state prosecutors, lawyers, witnesses and bailiffs.

The complex is equipped with the necessary infrastructure for the use of e-court. The creation of this system was provided by the President’s order of 13 February 2014.

Recall that the system of "electronic court" provides for the following measures: acceptance of applications, complaints and other documents in electronic form; electronic circulation of documents and the implementation of the proceedings of criminal, civil, administrative and economic affairs in electronic form, distribution of incoming court cases to judges in an automated form and preparation of electronic schedules of cases.

The system will enable the delivery of information to participants of litigation by e-mail or text message.

You also have the audio-video recording of court proceedings, as well as observation of meetings online. "Electronic Court" will also monitor the execution of decisions and keeping judicial statistics.

However, over the past year and a half there were no real steps in the implementation of these measures. Instead the courts have become more closed. Even in open trials access of journalists is limited. Vivid examples of this are recent trials of the journalist Khadija Ismailova and the human rights activists Arif and Leyla Yunus at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes. -06D--