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AZERBAIJAN: JURY DISMISSED
EurasiaNet.org
June 23 2014
June 23, 2014 - 11:06am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
After toying with the idea of introducing jury trials, the Azerbaijani
government now has dropped the initiative altogether, choosing to
keep the court system to itself.
For a country that now chairs the Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe, the continent's main human-rights body, that might
seem a strange move. But government-supporters say they do not trust
lay citizens' judgment in matters of law,. Critics counter that the
government just doesn't want to let go of its grip on the judiciary
system.
MP Ali Huseynli, representing the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party,
allegedly sees jury systems as a Western thingamajigy that doesn't
work in this former Soviet republic. "Jurors are mainly people who
do not have a law education and, therefore, often they cannot make
legal judgments," Huseynli commented as he and his fellow lawmakers
axed the jury-amendment from a bill on courts and judges last week.
Prosecutors, he added, had advised against introducing the jury system.
Critics counter that the real issue is that juries and jurors would
mean more work for prosecutors and more room for court independence.
"The practice [of jury trials] would have ended politically motivated
prosecutions of citizens on fabricated charges," commented lawyer
Namizad Safarov, Contact.az reported. The jury-system proposal stemmed
from the influence of international organizations, he added, calling
the decision to ditch the amendment "another step away from democracy."
Azerbaijan has a dismal reputation for prosecuting public
dissenters,especially journalists and activists. This year alone
has seen a flurry of arrests and sentences that human rights groups
describe as reprisals for defying the government of President Ilham
Aliyev.
Azerbaijan, however, is not the only South-Caucasus country with
a distaste for trials by jury. Armenia's general prosecutor and
Constitutional Court chairperson both think the Armenian judicial
system can't handle it, according to Armenpress. Georgia rolled out
jury trials in 2011, but with a restricted scope of application.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68716
EurasiaNet.org
June 23 2014
June 23, 2014 - 11:06am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
After toying with the idea of introducing jury trials, the Azerbaijani
government now has dropped the initiative altogether, choosing to
keep the court system to itself.
For a country that now chairs the Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe, the continent's main human-rights body, that might
seem a strange move. But government-supporters say they do not trust
lay citizens' judgment in matters of law,. Critics counter that the
government just doesn't want to let go of its grip on the judiciary
system.
MP Ali Huseynli, representing the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party,
allegedly sees jury systems as a Western thingamajigy that doesn't
work in this former Soviet republic. "Jurors are mainly people who
do not have a law education and, therefore, often they cannot make
legal judgments," Huseynli commented as he and his fellow lawmakers
axed the jury-amendment from a bill on courts and judges last week.
Prosecutors, he added, had advised against introducing the jury system.
Critics counter that the real issue is that juries and jurors would
mean more work for prosecutors and more room for court independence.
"The practice [of jury trials] would have ended politically motivated
prosecutions of citizens on fabricated charges," commented lawyer
Namizad Safarov, Contact.az reported. The jury-system proposal stemmed
from the influence of international organizations, he added, calling
the decision to ditch the amendment "another step away from democracy."
Azerbaijan has a dismal reputation for prosecuting public
dissenters,especially journalists and activists. This year alone
has seen a flurry of arrests and sentences that human rights groups
describe as reprisals for defying the government of President Ilham
Aliyev.
Azerbaijan, however, is not the only South-Caucasus country with
a distaste for trials by jury. Armenia's general prosecutor and
Constitutional Court chairperson both think the Armenian judicial
system can't handle it, according to Armenpress. Georgia rolled out
jury trials in 2011, but with a restricted scope of application.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68716