On September 12, Minister of Justice Fikrat Mammadov met with a delegation led by the head of the General Directorate for Human Rights and Superiority of Law of the Council of Europe, Christos Jakoumoulos.
At the meeting, the Minister talked about the great development path of Azerbaijan, close cooperation with international organizations, especially with the Council of Europe, congratulated the organization on its 70th anniversary, informed on the judicial-legal reforms made under the leadership of the President Ilham Aliyev and stressed that, the measures in this field are continued in the new phase by the Decree of the President on April 3, 2019.
During the conversation, the improvement of legislation in cooperation with the Council of Europe, the creation of independent self-government bodies of the judiciary, modernization of infrastructure and the use of electron courts, the creation of new specialized commercial courts, the most transparent election and training of the judges evaluated as exemplary by the Council of Europe, including the study of the precedents of the European Court for Human Rights and organization of study visits to that Court was greatly appreciated.
C.Jakoumoulos shared his impressions of his visit to the country, noting that the Council of Europe had established partnerships with Azerbaijan before becoming a member, and that the Ministry of Justice was one of the key partners in the development of these relations. He said that the joint projects with the ministry on training of lawyers, including training of human rights trainers, were very successful.
The guest was also informed about the innovations in the justice sector, reforms carried out in the penitentiary system, and there was also noted that, the humanization measures are continued today on decriminalization of some actions, appliance of alternative preventive punishment and penalties not related to deprivation of liberty, establishment of probation service and appliance of electron control means by making fundamental amendments to
the Criminal Code according to the Order of the Head of State on humanization of the punishment policy dated February 10, 2017.
The General Director welcomed the reforms and innovations and stressed that great steps were being taken to ensure the rights of detainees and improve their detention conditions and welcomed the publication of the reports of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) by Azerbaijan part.
He said that progress in the justice and the judiciary, the priorities set out in the Presidential Decree "On Deepening Reforms in the Judicial-Legal System" dated April 3, 2019, as well as the high representation of our country in the Commission on Justice Effectiveness of the Council of Europe opens opportunities for deepening cooperation. Jakoumoulos said he was ready to continue to support the reforms.
During the event the bitter results of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the ongoing occupation policy of Armenia were brought to the attention of the guest. Stressing the Armenian leadership's provocative and aggressive populist statements provoking open war, it was noted that the international community should respond this issue seriously.
The sides also exchanged views on improvement of legislation, training of judges and other lawyers, implementation of the decisions of the European Court, development of advocacy, application of mediation, alternative expertise and private enforcement mechanisms and other issues of interest.
