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European Court of Human Rights’ judge: Breakthrough in work of Azerbaijani Supreme and Constitutional Courts

Society Materials 13 August 2012 16:55 (UTC +04:00)
Compared to previous years, a breakthrough has taken place in the activities of the Supreme and Constitutional Courts of Azerbaijan, a judge of the European Court of Human Rights, Khanlar Hajiyev, said in an interview with Trend on Monday.
European Court of Human Rights’ judge: Breakthrough in work of Azerbaijani Supreme and Constitutional Courts

Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 13 / Trend K.Zarbaliyeva /

Compared to previous years, a breakthrough has taken place in the activities of the Supreme and Constitutional Courts of Azerbaijan, a judge of the European Court of Human Rights, Khanlar Hajiyev, said in an interview with Trend on Monday.

He said that purely mechanical reference has been made in recent years to the European Court's decisions related to any complaints from Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani courts have referred to these decisions as an example. At the same time, references to these decisions were made without a thorough analysis and study.

"During the consideration of a case the courts should correctly comment on and apply the rule of law. On this issue seminars are regularly held in the local courts, judges study the Convention on Human Rights. In Azerbaijan, the courts are improving the level of application of law, using the experience of civilized countries. But in many cases it depends on the level of training of judges," Hajiyev said.

In his opinion, anyone who wants to become a judge, basically, should have two qualities - the ability to think sensibly and to be fair.

"However, no test can help identify these qualities. My personal experience and international practice provide a basis to say that if the judge has these qualities, he or she would be a good judge," Hajiyev said.

Commenting on the reason for referral of complaints to the European Court from Azerbaijan, Hajiyev noted that the local courts are mainly to blame for this.

"They either incorrectly applied the national law or misinterpreted rules of law. There have been cases where the requirements of legal standards were applied by the courts in a completely opposite way. Most often this is due to the inexperience of the judges," Hajiyev said.

According to the representative of Azerbaijan, the European Court of Human Rights often reveals procedural violations.

"For example, if the use of torture in a country is found, the ECHR doesn't confine itself to making a decision on the matter, but also considers how investigative work in this country as a whole is organized, where the torturer is punished, which measures the state took on this fact. Sometimes wanting to simplify the European Court's decision, they believe that as long as the ECHR assigned fair compensation to the victim, then it is completed. But each state is obliged to eliminate the causes of human rights violations. After each decision of the European Court new procedures should be initiated, the matter should be considered again and the violation must be corrected. Such decisions are made at the Plenum of the Supreme Court. It should be done that when returning these cases, the courts would review them and eliminate these violations," Hajiyev said.

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