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2009 Assessment

Azerbaijan: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Azerbaijan: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Law Enforcement
Indicators		Score
83	Is the law enforcement agency (i.e. the police) effective?	33
84	Can law enforcement officials be held accountable for their actions?	63

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

Is the law enforcement agency (i.e. the police) effective?

83a: In practice, appointments to the law enforcement agency (or agencies) are made according to professional criteria.

Score:

100

Comments: Appointments to police and prosecution bodies are lately held through competitive exams, which consists of a written test and oral interview. It is publicly accepted that despite the fact that the written portion of the exams is held fairly, interviews are held in a highly subjective manner. As a result, only a handful of applicants are selected according to professional criteria.

References: 1) Materials of Legal Education Society [ LINK ] 2) Interview with Alibaba Rzayev, an advocate, September 2009 3) Materials on Radio Liberty's website [ LINK ]

83b: In practice, the law enforcement agency (or agencies) has a budget sufficient to carry out its mandate.

Score:

100

$Scoring Criteria :: 100 Score Criteria: The agency (or agencies) has a budget sufficient to fulfill its basic mandate. <p>50 Score Criteria: The agency (or agencies) has limited budget, generally considered somewhat insufficient to fulfill its basic mandate. <p>0 Score Criteria: The agency (or agencies) has no budget or an obviously insufficient budget that hinders the agency\'s ability to fulfill its mandate.$

Comments: Agencies such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the General Prosecutor's Office have a sufficient budget to fulfill their basic mandate.

References: 1) Materials of Legal Education Society [ LINK ] 2) Interview with Alibaba Rzayev, an advocate, September 2009 3) Materials on Radio Liberty's website [ LINK ]

83c: In practice, the law enforcement agency is protected from political interference.

Score:

100

Comments: The investigative and enforcement work of agencies such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs or General Prosecutor's Office is commonly influenced by political actors or the government, especially in high profile cases.

References: 1) Materials of Legal Education Society [ LINK ] 2) Interview with Alibaba Rzayev, an advocate, September 2009 3) Materials on Radio Liberty's website [ LINK ]

Can law enforcement officials be held accountable for their actions?

84a: In law, there is an independent mechanism for citizens to complain about police action.

Score:

YES

Comments: Under the Law on Police, citizens may apply to the Ministry of Internal Affairs under administrative procedure about police actions. Furthermore, under the Law on Ombudsman, citizens may apply to the Ombudsman. If there are allegations about corruption offenses, citizens may apply to the Anti-Corruption Committee. Finally, citizens may complain in court about police actions or inactions.

References: Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ombudsman, Anti-Corruption Committee; The Law on Police; The Constitutional Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) [ LINK ]

84b: In practice, the independent law enforcement complaint reporting mechanism responds to citizen's complaints within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments: Under the legislation, citizens may apply to the Ministry of Internal Affairs under administrative procedure about police actions; to the Ombudsman; and in case of alleged corruption incidents, to the Anti-Corruption Committee. Statistics show that out of the three mechanisms, the Ombudsman follows the reasonable time requirement better than the others. However, all three bodies are dependent on political will, especially in high profile cases.

References: 1) Materials of Legal Education Society [ LINK ] 2) Interview with Alibaba Rzayev, an advocate, September 2009 3) Materials on Radio Liberty's website [ LINK ]

84c: In law, there is an agency/entity to investigate and prosecute corruption committed by law enforcement officials.

Score:

YES

Comments: Under the legislation, the Department for Combating Corruption under the General Prosecutor's Office and the Unit for Special Investigation Measures on Corruption Crimes under the Ministry of Internal Affairs work closely together to investigate and prosecute corruption committed by law enforcement officials.

References: Department for Combating Corruption under the General Prosecutor's Office [ LINK ]; Unit for Special Investigation Measures on Corruption Crimes under the Ministry of Internal Affairs [ LINK ]

84d: In practice, when necessary, the agency/entity independently initiates investigations into allegations of corruption by law enforcement officials.

Score:

100

Comments: In practice, agencies may start investigations but do not complete them, or are unwilling to take on politically powerful offenders.

References: 1) Materials of Legal Education Society [ LINK ] 2) Interview with Alibaba Rzayev, an advocate, September 2009 3) Materials on Radio Liberty's website [ LINK ]

84e: In law, law enforcement officials are not immune from criminal proceedings.

Score:

YES

Comments: Under Article 33 of the Law on Police, police officers are accountable for their actions under the legislation and can be investigated and prosecuted for their actions.

References: The Law on Police [ LINK ]

84f: In practice, law enforcement officials are not immune from criminal proceedings.

Score:

100

Comments: Despite the fact that legally law enforcement officials are not immune from criminal proceedings and are accountable for their actions, in practice they usually have informal protection. For instance, after the 2005 Parliamentary elections, during demonstrations 14 journalists were beaten up by police officers while fulfilling their professional duties. In his later meeting with a group of police academy graduates, the president of Azerbaijan publicly stated that he would always support the police and no policeman would be punished for beating up journalists. This speech was criticized by independent local and international organizations in terms of the president's assurance of complete impunity and ignorance of the principle of separation of powers. See [ LINK ].

References: 1) Materials of Legal Education Society [ LINK ] 2) Interview with Alibaba Rzayev, an advocate, September 2009 3) Materials on Radio Liberty's website [ LINK ]