The lawyer Shahla Humbatov's on depriving her of authority

Baku / 29.11.19 / Turan: Lawyer Shahla Humbatova considers the decision of the Azerbaijan Bar Association to suspend her powers unfair.

On her facebook page, she reports that the decision against her was made on two grounds. The first is for failure to pay membership fees to the Bar Association for more than 6 months. However, back in February, she paid 409 manats, as an advance payment for 7 months. However, it now appears that these funds were credited for the previous period.

She notes that previously she  had paid contributions for 6 months in advance. Then, because of the case of the blogger Mehman Huseynov, disciplinary proceedings were launched against her. “Am I really so stupid as not to pay a membership fee in such a situation? All this time no complaints were presented to me, they didn’t say that she had to pay the fees,” said Humbatova.

The second claim is about “falsification of the document”, and then in 2018 a woman turned to her on the issue of inheritance. “We agreed that for 3 thousand manats I will conduct her case  from beginning to end. She insisted that the lawyer's fee be included in the claim. For this, I asked to pay me the full amount so that I could present a receipt to the court.

Upon meeting, she gave me 1,000 manat, promising to give the rest later. The case went to court, but she never brought the money. The claim was not satisfied. More than a year has already passed.  I wrote in my explanatory note that this woman simply decided to deceive me. Since, I did not harm her, but on the contrary, I was naive, trusting this woman.

A year and a half has passed since then, and according to the law, a disciplinary measure can be taken within a year,” Humbatova writes, hoping that the misunderstanding will be eliminated. The lawyer notes that she was not able to meet with the head of the board, Anar Bagirov, to clarify the situation. Humbatova believes that another disciplinary sanction may be taken against her, not related to the termination of powers.

* Humbatova is known for her work in human rights affairs. She  defended the rights of a number of political prisoners, including the well-known human rights activist Intigam Aliyev. She also went to the process of protecting the rights of activists arrested in administrative cases. So far, more than 10 lawyers who defended the affairs of the opposition and spoke at trials on violations of citizens' rights have been deprived of their powers for far-fetched reasons. –06D-