Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 February /corr. Trend K.Zarbaliyeva / In Azerbaijan, the presentation of the prosecutor's office regarding the arrest punishment is unambiguously ensured by the courts. The citizens and lawyers complain that the judgments of the courts are not based in selecting punishment as arrest.
The complaints received by the Appeal Court are usuallyrejected due to the judgments of the courts of the first instance.
Answering question on how many measures of punishment were given last year and what part of them was implemented as arrest, the Press Secretary of the Prosecutor General's Office, Vugar Aliyev, said that such statistics are not held. The Ministry of Justice also stated that it does not possess any statistic data on this issue.
The Appeal Court of Baku City stated that last year the Court received 131 complaints due to measures of arrest punishment. Of them, 117 are appeals, 4 - appeal protests.
Ten cases were returned back without consideration, so that the courts of the first instance improve the shortages allowed by them. The judgments on arrest punishment were liquidated only in 15 of the appeals, and other measures of punishment were taken with regards to the prosecuted.
Aliyev said that the criminal-procedural legislation of Azerbaijan determined measures of punishment as arrest, security, obligations not to leave, personal guarantee, guarantee of organization, transfer to supervision of police or commander, dismissal, etc.
He said that according to the criminal-procedural legislation, the measure of arrest punishment may be selected with regards to those who are accused of crimes envisaging arrest punishment for more than two years. Selecting the punishment, the investigation bodies or courts should take into consideration the gravity, character and conditions of the committed crime, personality, age, family, material and social situation of prosecuted, existence of previous convictions and the other important facts.
The measure of arrest punishment is determined by the courts according to the presentation by the prosecutor's office. Until the adoption of a new Election Code, the authority for sanctioning the arrest was held by the prosecutor's bodies.
According to him, despite that the legislation contains security punishment, this measures is not implemented in practice.
Lawyer-expert Intigam Aliyev said that the arrest in Azerbaijan is implemented as measures of punishment. "In reality, the arrest is the isolation of the person from the society for a certain period," he said.
The expert considers that the statistics and analyses of the punishments should be held and reasons for such situation should be eliminated. According to him, if such continues, Azerbaijan may get fined by the European Court on Human Rights in a huge amount for making groundless judgments on arrest.
According to lawyer Rashad Hajili, the local courts' applying the European Court's precedent law on election of the arrest punishment cerates certain problems in this sphere. According to the lawyer, either the courts do not have understanding on the experience of the European Court or the prosecutor's offices lay heavy pressure on the courts to avoid the objective judgment.
The Judge of the Supreme Court, Muzaffar Agazade, is concerned about the issue that the percentage of the arrest punishment is high. He considers that the courts make judgments on groundless arrest in unnecessary situations. "After this authority was transferred to the judges, the number of the arrests was supposed to decrease. Unfortunately, this indicator did not change," Agazade said.
The Judge of the Supreme Court says that while making judgments, the courts do not base their judgments. "Arrest simplifies the work of the investigation. While making other measures of punishment, certain problems appear in the investigation. But, it can not be taken as a ground for arrest. The arrested persons are afraid, and it is possible to receive any recognition from them," Agazade said.
Saying that the gravity of the crime can not be a ground for arrest, the judge said that arrest is surely selected in the cases sent to the court according to the presentation of Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry's Department for Fight against Organized Criminality.
According to Agazade, the amount of the security is very high in the legislation. According to him, the persons accused or suspected of any crimes prefer arrest to pay this amount. Agayev supports decrease in the amount of the security.
The judge of the Supreme Court, Vefaeddin Ibayev stated that the judgments of the European Court on Human Rights say that the well-grounded suspicions are very much necessary conditions for the arrest of any person. However, such suspicions are not satisfactory to continue the arrest. In addition to grounded suspicions, there should be other grounds as well.
Ibayev said that there should be grounded suspicions of crime for the arrest. Only in this case, the arrest is considered legal. Any suspicion may be considered grounded if the connections between the suspected person and supposed crime are grounded with the facts and information. "Arrest should not be grounded with any feelings and instincts," he said.