Your trusted source

EurasiaNet website has made a reference to the amendments to Azerbaijan’s civil code adopted by the country’s parliament on 31 October, characterizing the move as a test of patience of the western governments.

According to the source, the amendments would effectively bar roughly 90 percent of the country’s legal professionals from practicing law. The changes will take effect on 1 January 2018.

“Observers characterize the move as the latest and most decisive step in an escalating crackdown on the country’s few remaining human rights lawyers. Less than 24 hours after Azerbaijan’s parliament ratified the changes, several lawyers reported being summoned to their local police stations, where they were told they were no longer licensed to practice law and would be subject to arrest or fines if they continued,” EurasiaNet wrote.

The article noted that Azerbaijani lawyers are either vəkillər, licensed bar members who pass a series of written tests and a highly politicized oral examination, or hüquqşünaslar, registered lawyers who have not passed the bar but, until now, have been entitled to represent clients in all non-criminal courts.

“Under the amendments, an estimated 8,000 registered lawyers stand to be barred from representing clients in any Azerbaijani court, leaving a nation of nearly 10 million people with only 934 registered legal professionals. At roughly nine lawyers per 100,000 people, that would be a ratio that is 18 times lower than the European average, and by far the lowest figure of any Council of Europe member.

The amendments’ adoption has occurred against the backdrop of two overlapping Azerbaijani political-legal dramas – a showdown between Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe over Azerbaijan’s continued failure to comply with a 2014 ruling ordering the release of Ilgar Mammadov, and the continued international political fallout of the revelations of large-scale bribery and money laundering known as the “Azerbaijani Laundromat.”

The amendments could turn out to be an attempt to bully independent-minded hüquqşünaslar into submission, rather than legislate them out of existence.

They also may constitute a test case in which Azerbaijan is pushing the boundaries to see how far western governments will permit Baku to stray from its international norms governing basic rights without facing serious consequences,” reads the article.