176
Country reports on judicial corruption
judges, courts and the agencies responsible for enforcing sentences. The number of complaints about justice was 286 as of 30 June 2006. Most related to allegations of corruption by judges, or bailiffs who failed to enforce court decisions.
More judges in the pipeline The operation of the judiciary and court structure is set out in Azerbaijan’s Courts and Judges Act 1997. The act was amended in December 2005 when a law on the judicial-legal council was also approved. These two pieces of legislation introduced new recruitment examinations for judges (see below); extended to judges the financial requirements set forth in the 2004 Law on Combating Corruption, including the submission of tax returns and restrictions on gifts; provided for the creation of a committee to select judges and establish a training programme for candidates for the judiciary; and created a channel for individuals and businesses to complain about alleged judicial corruption. Citizens can appeal directly to the judicial-legal council, which has the power to initiate proceedings against judges accused of corruption. Two laws adopted in December 2004 reviewed the immunity of judges, simplifying disciplinary procedures and lifting immunity when sufficient evidence has been found. Experts believe this issue has been ‘addressed only procedurally, without defining substantive criteria’.4 No statistics are available on cases where judicial immunity has actually been lifted. A number of institutional reforms were introduced in line with the above amendments. Local courts were established in December 2005 to multiply the number of dispute-resolution forums in a bid to speed up the delivery of justice. These included
courts of appeal in Baku, Ganja, Sumgait, AliBayramli and Sheki; a court of serious crimes in the enclave of Nakhichevan; and economic courts in Baku-2, Sumgait and Sheki. In January 2006 the president signed a decree ordering the judicial council to calculate the number of judges needed to staff the new and existing courts. To prevent abuse of power and corruption, the decree also required the relevant bodies to prepare a code of conduct for judges.
President has the final word The judicial council was established in 2005 to ensure the smooth running of the judicial system; oversee the selection, transfer and promotion of judges; evaluate performance; and deprive corrupt or incompetent judges of immunity. The 15 council members are appointed by the president, parliament and the constitutional court, and include the Minister of Justice, chairman of the Supreme Court, two judges from the courts of appeal and first instance courts, a judge of the Supreme Court of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, and representatives from the bar association, the prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Justice. The public has no say in the selection process. De jure, the judicial system is an independent branch of power, selecting a chairman from among its ranks every two and a half years. However, the members ‘opted’ to select the Minister of Justice as chair, handing de facto control of the council back to the executive branch. The end of 2005 saw the organisation of the selection process for new judges. A written test on the law was held in September and an essaywriting competition followed in November. Successful candidates were invited to a final verbal test in February 2006. Observers from civil
4 ‘Monitoring of National Actions to Implement Recommendations Endorsed during the Reviews of Legal and Institutional Frameworks for the Fight against Corruption’, adopted at the 5th Monitoring Meeting of the Istanbul Anti-corruption Action Plan on 13 June 2006 at OECD, Paris.