The date when the Statute of the Ministry of Justice was approved – 22nd of November was founded as the professional holiday of justice officials and has been celebrating for 20 years with a sense of happiness by the Order of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev dated November 11, 2000.
Last year, the 100th anniversary of the Justice of Azerbaijan was remembered with great enthusiasm and celebration. On this occasion, an important international conference was held to look at the glorious history of justice and the way it has progressed. The appeal of the President Ilham Aliyev to justice officials and judges and awarding a large group of employees with state awards made this anniversary even more remarkable.
Opening of a new modern building for the Binagadi District Court of Baku was greeted with great gratitude by the head of state, who paid great attention to the activities of the judiciary.
At the same time, the State Program "On development of the Azerbaijani justice for 2019-2023 ", approved by the President on December 18, 2018, set new goals for the development of the justice and judicial system over the next five years.
The year 2019 was also significant for the Azerbaijani justice, and reforms in all areas to ensure the country's sustainable development have given rise to a new stage in the justice and judicial system. The Decree "On deepening of the reforms in the judicial-legal system" on April 3 of the President Ilham Aliyev, who said "Reforms will be deepened, there is no alternative to reforms," is an important program roadmap for the development of the justice and judicial system.
The Decree has set forth the important duties like development of entrepreneurship, which is important in economic growth, improvement of work in different areas of justice activity, enhancement of access to litigation, prevention of interference in judges 'activities, increase of the efficiency of judicial proceedings, elimination of procrastination, reducing judges' workload, etc.
Taking into account the public importance of the Decree of the Head of State, the Ministry of Justice jointly with relative organizations held public discussions, presentations and other events for the various sections of the society, including the legal community, businessmen, business circles, civil society institutions, diplomatic corps, and other relevant agencies in the regions and about 1,000 enlightenment activities were realized.
About 40 draft laws were prepared regarding the execution of the decree, organization of the commercial courts, humanization of punishment policy and decriminalization of crimes, improvement of the execution of court decisions and
forensic expertise activity, including the application of alternative enforcement and private expertise, the formation of a unified judicial practice and other issues.
It should be noted that when developing new draft laws, statistical data and existing experience were analyzed, international best practices were studied, and public comments and suggestions were taken into account.
A number of new laws have already been adopted on the legislative initiative of the head of state for more effective provision of judicial system of our country and other important draft laws have been discussed at the first reading by the Milli Mejlis.
According to the adopted new laws, new specialized courts have been established to provide a more flexible handling of business disputes by judges with deep legal knowledge and experience, with the abolition of existing administrative and economic courts by the Presidential Decree of July 19, 2019, New Commercial and separate Administrative Courts have been established in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Baku, Ganja, Sumgait, Shirvan and Sheki cities.
Territorial jurisdiction and staff numbers have been determined by analysing the activities and future scope of those courts, which will start operating on January 1, 2020. Measures are being taken to provide them with appropriate buildings, equipment, and other organizational and technical facilities, as well as on the formation of court offices.
At the same time, the head of state has significantly increased the salaries of judges as part of a larger social package to improve the welfare of over 4 million citizens.
It should be noted that the number of judges in our country is much lower than in European countries. Thus, while the European countries had more than 20 judges per 100,000 people, this figure was only 6 in Azerbaijan.
At the same time, the number of civil cases in the courts of first instance has reached 470,000 in some years. Currently, one judge consideres more than 100 cases each month. Of course, such heavy workload has a negative impact on durability and quality.
In this regard, it was important to increase the number Judges up to one-third of the existing body - 200 units. Completion of these staffs will undoubtedly facilitate the timely and quality consideration of cases in the courts.
In this regard, the Judicial-Legal Council adopted a corresponding decision on the distribution of newly-allocated staffs to the courts, improved the selection of judges and increased flexibility in the process.
A number of judges have already passed the test and written exams, 81 candidates gained access to the next round - the oral examination. Oral examinations began on November 15 with candidates for the same government.
At the same time, the admission of documents of the candidates to the judiciary has been sustained. And about 250 lawyers who have submitted their documents will have another test tomorrow. In the exams, which will be organized using modern technology and online broadcast, the candidates will answere the questions by computer, individually, and the results will be announced immediately.
The issue of reducing the workload of judges by other means is also in the focus of attention. A simplified procedure for small claims cases has been established in order to ensure the speed of judicial review due to legislative changes this year, conduction of execution of economic cases electronically – through “Electron court” information system and audio-video recording of judicial procedures was provided, the possibility of a non-judicial settlement of cases involving unqualified monetary and property claims has been made available in electronic form with a notary's record of execution, as well as termination and suspension powers on enforcement were committed to executive officials.
The Ministry launched a new project with the European Union on the implementation of the mediation in our republic, which is an important mean in non-judicial solution of disputes within the framework of execution of the decree, and prepared many draft laws on implementation of the “Mediation Law”. Currently, the works on establishment of the Board of Mediation, training of mediation trainers and mediators, training of judges in this area, organization of comprehensive educational activities, etc. are continued.
In addition, a roadmap has been developed in the country jointly with the European Union within the framework of the project "Support of the standard legal base for the development of business environment" to promote efficient international arbitration procedures in our country.
In addition, important legislative and institutional measures have been implemented on provision of the independence of judges, the elimination of interference in courts' activities and other negative cases and on other issues, as well as, the hotline, monitoring sectors have been established at the Judicial-Legal Council in order to implement the issues raised by the Decree. Relevant appeals to the Hotline are immediately investigated, monitored, and the citizens are received directly in the courts.
Thus, the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial-Legal Council have monitored more than 50 courts in a short period of time, violations have been brought to the attention of more than 100 judges and chairmen, and disciplinary proceedings have been reviewed about 41 judges for more serious violations, as well as 6 of them were dismissed, 2 were dismissed prematurely, and various disciplinary actions were taken against the others.
At the same time, the Decree identified tasks to improve the performance of the Ministry's executive service, which is of particular importance in the administration of justice. Tasks in this area were discussed at a national meeting with the participation of all heads of local executive bodies, concrete steps were made to improve the efficiency of enforcement of court decisions, enhancing the use of the "Electron Execution" information system, and preventing harassment and abuse cases.
Also, for the first time, the Executive Code was developed to systematize the regulatory legal acts regulating the activities of the court.
In addition, a roundtable was held at the Ministry of Justice to discuss issues related to banks 'active participation in financing of economic growth in banks, and to discuss issues related judicial protection of banks' rights and the problems in the field of execution, and measures are being taken to solve the operational problems by establishing joint working groups.
During the first 9 months of 2019, the executive service provided more than half of the 780,000 cases, and made the natural and legal persons to pay more than 690 million manats. The measures on execution of remaining cases are continued.
About 3,700 persons who violated the requirements of the executive legislation were brought to administrative responsibility, including 2,000 were arrested by the courts, and 340 individuals were deliberately evaded from the execution of court decisions. Also, the experience of temporary restriction of the right to leave the country has had a positive impact on enforcement of court decisions, and such restriction have been removed from more than 10,000 debtors because of their execution of judicial decisions.
The Ministry of Justice has completed 430 criminal investigations over 9 months of the year on some other crimes against justice, with more than half of the damage inflicted on natural and legal entities.
In order to implement the tasks set in the decree, as well as with relate to the ever-increasing number of executive services, alternative mechanisms for enforcement of decisions of courts and other bodies, including the legislation of different states relating to the enforcement of private bodies were studied and the Ministry’s delegation familiarized with private performance models applied in France, Netherlands, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Georgia. At present, measures are being taken to implement a model of private implementation suitable for our country.
It should be noted that, the measures taken within the execution of the Order of the President of the country on humanization of the punishment policy signed on February 10, 2017 have a real effect, preferring alternative punishments for imprisonment and ensuring their effective implementation.
Thus, as a result of decriminalization of the criminal law in the past period, about 6,400 convicts were fully exempted from prison or their punishment was facilitated, and the number of detainees in pre-trial detention facilities decreased by 20%.
At the same time, the use of electron control means in the execution of alternative punishments for deprivation of liberty, including imprisonment terms, has expanded significantly, and up to date, more than 2,000 inmates have applied electron bangles.
By the Decree it was instructed to continue measures on humanization of the penal policy and decriminalization of crimes as another manifestation of the humanism of the Head of State, by studying advanced international experience, draft laws were prepared on making about 400 amendments to the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedural Code, Code of Administrative Offenses and Execution of Punishments, on decriminalization of some actions, wider use of alternative penalties and the introduction of new progressive legal institutions.
One of the important innovations in the decree is the creation of alternative mechanisms of expertise, including the conduct of expertise by private agencies. In this regard, legislation and best practices have been reviewed, and projects have been drafted to clarify the timing of expert opinions, enhancing the rights of the participants in the proceedings and other issues.
According to these projects, which are under discussion by the Milli Majlis, a new institute of private judicial expertise will be established in our country and the requirements for this activity will be set. It is also envisaged that participants in civil cases, administrative disputes and administrative offenses may order, at their own discretion and at their own expense, to submit the results of that expertise to the public authorities or private forensic examiners.
At the same time, in accordance with the President's instructions to improve the forensic activities, the Ministry's Judicial Expert Center has been upgraded, the number of staff has been increased, access to the expertise activity has been simplified for the purpose of increase of quality and operability of expert investigations and efficiency of works in the field of economic examinations, and additional new Lankaran regional branch of the Center was established to assist local judicial and law-enforcement bodies.
Forensic Examination Center executed about 24,000 cases on 41 expert specialties this year, and experts solved 99.5% of the issues raised by answering over 675,000 questions.
Measures on other activities of the Ministry, execution of tasks facing the judiciary were also in focus in 2019.
For 9 months of the current year the Ministry of Justice, actively involved in law-making activity, prepared 1,266 draft legal acts in various areas of public life, more than 2 times projects were examined and more than 2,200 regulatory acts were included in the State Register of Legal Acts. At the same time, the number of visits to e-ganun.az website of the national legislation and huquqiaktlar.gov.az related registry websites for free use of the population increased by 44% compared to the same period last year and exceeded 1.34 million.
At the same time, measures were taken to modernize the activities and infrastructure of the notary bodies, which play an important role in the regulation of economic processes and legal relations. For the first time in our country, the Notary Chamber, an independent body of notaries, was established and began to function.
During the first 9 months of 2019, the number of transactions by notaries increased by 30% and reached 3.9 million, of which 97% were carried out by a private notary institution. In addition, more than 226,500 civil status acts were registered in the registry, the number of births exceeded 107,000, and the number of marriages exceeded 47,000.
45% of the approximately 3.2 million documents were executed by notary and registry offices in ASAN Service centers, which were created on the initiative of the head of the state, as a brand of Azerbaijan around the world, and which 34 million people benefited from it.
At the same time, as a manifestation of state support for the development of civil society, the Ministry has registered 145 non-governmental organizations for 9 months. To date, the total number of non-profit organizations has reached 4,500, while the number of press releases has reached 5,300.
The Ministry has taken consistent measures to ensure the rule of law of the municipalities, which have celebrated the 20th anniversary this year and play an important role in the development of local democracy, providing them with regular methodological assistance and effective administrative supervision. This year, more than 67,000 municipal acts were subjected to legal review, 1,952 acts were found to be unlawful, and they were repealed or replaced, as well as illegally given lands were returned back. Materials on 24 facts of criminal offenses committed by municipalities were sent to prosecutor's offices for legal evaluation.
In addition, about 9,000 municipalities were recommended to the municipalities, 25 methodical manuals were prepared, and about 8,300 municipality members and attendees were involved in awareness activities, including courses organized by the Academy of Justice.
Measures on improvement of penitentiary activity, reliable protection of prisoners' rights, improvement of their detention conditions and corrective works
were continued, the number of convicts involved in public service in the penitentiary institutions increased and exceeded 5,800, as well as 524 crimes were prevented as a result of operational activities.
In accordance with the Humanism Policy laid out by the Great Leader, pardon of 431 people by the decree of the President signed on March 16, as well as conditional release by the Ministry and replacement of punishment to a more lenient punishment provided great opportunities for social rehabilitation of prisoners.
The high quality of medical services provided to prisoners have always been in the focus, and the recent achievements of our country in this area have been used by other countries and have already begun to apply the positive model of struggle against TB in Azerbaijan's penitentiary facilities in some countries. To this end, over 230 representatives from 20 countries in Western Europe, Asia, Africa, Central America and the CIS have been trained at an international training center operating at the Ministry's Specialized Treatment Facility.
The activities of the court are also accompanied by the improvement of the corps. Over the past 15 years, about 2,900 people, most of them young people, have been recruited through transparent contests and are successfully operating in various areas of the judiciary. This year, two recruitment contests were held, 65 candidates successfully passed all stages of the competition, including compulsory training at the Academy of Justice, and the Ministry of Justice held a meeting with them. Interviews with another 36 people who have succeeded in the test passed last month and who have been admitted to the next level in accordance with the requirements of legislation will begin next week.
In accordance with the instructions of the President on the active participation of young cadres in public administration, the promotion of volunteer institutions, young people are widely represented in the judiciary, about half of the staff working in many justice agencies are young, while the newly recruited justice staff comprises up to 70 per cent of the ministry's personnel.
At the same time, about 1,300 young volunteers have been involved in justice activities and about 70 volunteers have been recruited since the beginning of this year in order to increase their desire to work in the area of justice and to facilitate their employment.
Today, young law enforcement officers develop the values of the great leader, such as loyalty, purity and high moral qualities to the independent Azerbaijan state, and they are entrusted with the responsibility. The first forum of young law enforcement officers, held last month on the occasion of the Independence Day, facilitated the efforts of these bodies to contribute to the comprehensive
development of the country, to promote stability and security, as well as to ensure public-civil solidarity.
The Ministry of Justice has always been focusing on expanding cooperation in the legal field. This year, relevant documents have been agreed on cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mexico, Bahrain, Egypt, and Iraq, bilateral fruitful mutual visits with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were made and the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Ministries of Justice and the Cooperation Program for its implementation were signed.
Also, given the importance of international cooperation in the fight against crime, last month during our delegation's visit to Strasbourg, our country signed the Fourth Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Extradition with the participation of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
During his visit to Strasbourg, he also attended and delivered a conference of European Ministers of Justice on "Digital Challenges of Justice in Europe", chaired by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in France, where Azerbaijan's experience in the judicial system, including the application of the "E-court" information system was met with great interest.
In addition, the Ministry has represented our country in respectable prestigious international events, has been active in the annual meetings of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Agencies, the UN High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development, and other events.
It should be noted that during all the events and discussions, the international community brought to the attention of the international community the facts concerning the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The Ministry of State pays special attention to the principles of open government, transparency, publicity, and public participation, while keeping in mind the demands of the head of state for maximum transparency and greater public control. 10 Ministry's web-sites, social networking pages are operating in interactive mode, various press releases and annual collections are regularly published to inform the public about the progress of reforms and innovations in the judicial system and for the purpose of legal awareness of the population. During the first 9 months of this year, more than 4,000 legal awareness events were held, including briefings, presentations, public discussions on justice and court activities were organized.
Today, special attention is paid to the use of electronic services, modern technologies and innovations in the field of justice. Thus, the Ministry has developed a special electronic notary's "bag" with direct access to the electronic notary information system and the relevant data banks. With the help of this bag, it is possible to make any notarial act, to print and to submit documents. It is possible
to provide remote access services through the "Electron Justice Kiosk", which is only available in Azerbaijan and installed at the border, air, sea ports and railway stations. Another notable feature is the "Mobile Notary" software. With the help of this software downloaded to the phone, a citizen can obtain information about the notary's activity by having an electronic notary cabinet.
Although these innovations have been implemented in a short period of time, they have already attracted international attention and other countries are also benefiting from the innovative products of Azerbaijan.
Certainly, the consistent and purposeful measures taken to achieve sustainable development of the Azerbaijani justice, the achieved successes are the most important part of large-scale reforms carried out in our country with the strong political will of our President Mr. Ilham Aliyev. Today, the sustainable socio-economic progress of Azerbaijan is successfully provided under the leadership of the head of state, successive social decisions are being made to improve people's well-being, and significant progress is being made in all areas of public life. Our country hosts a high level of respectable international forums and events, its influence in the international arena grows every day and it is among the leading countries.
Reforms and sound economic policies in Azerbaijan are highly regarded by the world's most respected economic institutions, according to the World Bank's Doing Business 2020 report, Azerbaijan ranks among the top 20 most reformist countries in the world. According to a new report by the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijan is ranked 10th in the world for long-term strategy of government and leadership, and 5th in terms of leadership's inclination to reform.
Multiple activities of еру First Vice President, Head of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva should be especially noted in ensuring sustainable socio-economic and cultural development of our republic, successful implementation of important social projects, ideas and principles of humanism, tolerance and multiculturalism.
All these are a logical consequence of the comprehensive progress and development in our country, which gives our people a high sense of pride and inspires each of us with new achievements.
Justice officers, who are always adhering to the high statehood of the great leader, have a great responsibility for further strengthening of our country by continuously guiding the head of our state in the activities of dignified service, civic satisfaction, transparency and inadmissibility of corruption.
On this eve, the Head of State has awarded justice officials with the highest special ranks, which is a manifestation of the high attention and care about the justice activity of the President of our country.
On the day of the professional holiday, the employees of the judiciary went to the Alley of Honor, thanked the great leader Heydar Aliyev, the founder of the independent Azerbaijan state, who gave us this holiday and commemorated the heroic heroes of the land at the Alley of Martyrs.
Also, judicial authorities and courts reviewed the historical development of Azerbaijani justice, held meetings with justice veterans and young people, volunteers got acquainted with the museum of justice history and other museums, there were organized tree-planting and blood donation actions, mass sporting and intellectual competitions, "open door" days and other range of holiday events.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the justice staff on the occasion of the professional holiday and wish them new achievements in their important activities, such as provision of the rule of law and human rights.
