Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 18 / Trend K. Zarbaliyeva /
The Azerbaijani Justice Ministry's Investigation Department has investigated nearly 190 criminal cases over the first 10 months of this year, Justice Counselor Zaur Aliyev told Trend yesterday.
"Most of the cases are related to the deliberate non-execution of court decrees and the illegal circulation of prohibited items in penitentiary institutions," he said.
According to Aliyev, over 90 cases are related to the non-execution of court decrees. He said that such a large number of cases is "only natural," although the execution of legally valid court decrees is mandatory for every citizen, official, and legal entity.
"It is natural," he said. "Because the fulfillment of obligations that arise between physical and legal entities on the basis of existing socioeconomic ties, including monetary and property claims, ends with litigation, and the body that makes a decision on behalf of the state directs it for execution. Indeed, such an attitude toward the decision and the justice authority is a social problem in general."
According to Aliyev, the Constitution sets the legal basis of this issue. According to Article 129, court decrees are made on behalf of the state and their execution is mandatory.
He also noted that amendments made to articles 196 and 306 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code on July 17 establish punitive measures for similar crimes.
Therefore, if earlier the penalty for crimes such as causing significant harm to a victim by avoiding the payment of accounts and not executing judicial acts - or impeding their execution - was two years, today the penalty has been increased to three years.
Each act has been raised from the category of a crime posing no serious public threat to a low-level crime.
Aliyev noted that individuals who have obligations under the writ of the court should be aware of their responsibility before the law and must act cautiously.
"The Justice Ministry systematically conducts legal educative works in this direction through the competent authorities," he said. "Experience shows that when conducting serious educational work with citizens and explaining the essence of their acts and the legal consequences of criminal responsibility, they mostly execute the judicial acts."
According to Aliyev, more than 800,000 of the 1.2 million manat in the damages caused to physical and legal entities in criminal cases during the first 10 months of this year was paid during the investigation.
The Investigation Department, which is the ministry's structural organization, has been operating for 10 years. The department was officially established in 2000 and to this day ensures a preliminary investigation according to the relevant articles of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code.
According to Aliyev, during the reporting period, about 50 criminal cases were filed related to the illicit trafficking of prohibited items in penitentiary institutions.
"Until the end of 2007, responsibility for the abovementioned violations was envisaged by the Azerbaijani Code of Administrative Violations," he said. "But after these acts became classified as a crime, major educational work has been held in this area with accused individuals, convicted persons, their relatives and their friends. In addition, when revealing incidents of the illegal circulation of prohibited items, criminal prosecution has been launched and strict measures have been taken. On the one hand, this prevents second convictions and also ensures the normal operation of prisons."