The Milli Majlis committees for Legal Policy and State-Building, and for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising held a joint video link-up on 1 July for the second reading of three Bills containing amendments to the Civil Procedural and Administrative Procedural Codes as well as to the State Duty Law.

As First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli said at the outset, because of certain matters that had arisen respective the amendments, the MP members of the other parliamentary committees, judges of the Supreme Court, members of the Bar Association and representatives of the other concerned entities had been invited to take part in the meeting. Then, Mr Huseynli gave the floor to Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court Chinghiz Asgarov in view of his direct connexion with the drafting of the Bills at issue.

Chinghiz Asgarov said that the Bills were meant to enhance the efficiency of justice, define more completely the rights and obligations of judicial proceedings participants and ensure employment of advanced information technologies meeting the demand of the day in judicature – all in keeping with the matters issuing forth from the decree of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic ‘On Deepening the Reforms in the Judicial and Legal System’ dated 3 April 2019.

Opinions about the amendments were offered by Deputy Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Gudrat Hasanguliyev, members of the same Committee Kamal Jafarov and Bahrouz Maharramov, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee Zahid Oruj, Deputy Chairman of the Culture Committee Fazil Mustafa and MP Etibar Aliyev. The participants of the joint session accentuated the definitely progressive nature of the tabled amendments. They praised especially highly such components as pre-trial preparations, broader e-procedure capabilities and both continuation and intensification of the judicial and legal reforms.

Also, considerations of such aspects of the Bills as concern the legal practice in the main were voiced by the Presidium Chairman of the Bar Association Anar Baghirov and the solicitors Ilhama Hasanova, Gulshan Salmanova, Mukhtar Mustafayev, Anar Gasimli, Sima Yagubova and Azer Guliyev.

Chinghiz Asgarov answered the questions asked during the deliberations and explained certain elements of the amendments. Mr Asgarov went further to emphasise that the Working Group had, while it was composing them, collected and then scrutinised relevant proposals from courts, ministries and other concerned parties. Besides, the relevant international experience had been taken into account duly. A certain portion of the amendments are designed to discourage abuse of the procedural rules and impediments to efficient meting out of justice. On the whole, then, the amendments will increase the courts’ gravitas and improve both the quality of justice and the legal aid extended to citizens.

First Deputy Chairman of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli thanked the meeting participants for the effective exchange of opinions as he was summing up the deliberations. Such an active discussion demonstrated once more just how important the Bills in question were, Mr Huseynli commented.

Subsequently, the MPs recommended that all the Bills on the agenda should be sent up for consideration at a plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis.

Amongst the meeting participants were also the following: the members of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Fazail Agamali, Amina Agazade, Sabir Hajiyev, Nurlan Hasanov, Vugar Iskenderov, Tahir Karimli, Erkin Gadirli, Azay Guliyev, Jabi Guliyev, Mader Musayev, Elshan Musayev and Nizami Safarov; Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili, his Deputy Ali Masimli and the same Committee’s members Mahir Abbaszade, Vugar Bayramov, Mazahir Efendiyev, Vahid Ahmadov, Aydin Huseynov, Imamverdi Ismaylov, Rufat Guliyev, Anar Mammadov, Igbal Mammadov, Mashhur Mammadov, Ziyad Samedzade and Agalar Veliyev. The other participants were MP Aziz Alakbarov, Chief of the Milli Majlis Staff Safa Mirzayev, the chairs of the Supreme Court collegia Sanan Hajiyev, Kamala Abiyeva and Khagani Mammadov, Head of the Administrative and Military Regulatory Acts Office of the Chief Bureau of Legislation of the Ministry of Justice Aygun Bashirova and other officials.

The Press and Public Relations Department  

The Milli Majlis