Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr K. Ramazanova / The Azerbaijani candidates to the European Court's judge positions passed the interview in Paris on 17 December, a spokesman for the European Court on Human Rights Ruth Baillie said in a telephone talk from Strasburg on 17 December.
"Today 3 candidates passed the interview. One of them will be selected to the position after the January session of the Parliamentary Commission of the Council of Europe (PACE) to take place on 21-25 January 2008," Ballie said.
The Azerbaijani Government submitted a list with new candidates to the Council of Europe. The list includes the current judge from Azerbaijan in the European Court Khanlar Hajiyev, the judge of the Azizbeyov District Court in Baku Rashad Hasanov, and the judge of the Nasimi District Court Aygun Abdullayeva.
PACE rejected the list which had been submitted by the Juridical Council of Azerbaijan and included 3 candidates, as they did not comply with judge requirements. The candidates included into the list were the current judge from Azerbaijan in the European Court Khanlar Hajiyev, the judge of the Azerbaijani Supreme Court Zakir Guliyev and an employee in the Human Rights Protection Department in Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Saadat Novruzova. According to the European Convention, in order to be appointed to high judge positions, judges shall have high morale values and comply with requirements, or shall be known as powerful lawyers.
The judges to the European Court are elected for 6 years. Those appointed to the position for the first time stay less than 6 years. When a judge is 70 years old, his term of office expires.
Along with Azerbaijan, the session will also discuss appointment of judges from Latvia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Moldova and Slovenia.