Azernews.Az

All the seven cases on Azerbaijan heard by the European Court of Human Rights in 2007 were lost, the Supreme Court chairman says.
Ramiz Rzayev said, however, said there was no need to blow the issue out of proportion and to term it as "a tragedy".
"The European court focuses not on facts but procedural rules," Rzayev told the press on Monday.
He said that in case any contradiction between the European rights convention and national legislation emerges, the convention is taken as a basis. From this standpoint, the European court's rulings are binding, Rzayev said, emphasizing that all of them were enforced last year.
The European court has handed down a total of 11 rulings on Azerbaijan so far. Citizens mostly complain of alleged violations of their right to fair trial and being subject to torture.
Rzayev also said there were challenges with delegating Azerbaijani judges to the European court. One of the main problems is that candidates must be fluent in either English or French - the two official languages used. None of the 25 members currently serving in the Azerbaijan Supreme Court have a good command of either language, the court chairman said.
He added that there were also requirements concerning age and experience that have to be met.
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's body in charge of nominating judges for the European court returned the list of Azerbaijani candidates for improvement in late January. The Secretariat at the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights explained the move by the lack of its compliance with required standards and said it was expecting Azerbaijan to submit a new list.
Three Azerbaijani candidates have been nominated for the positions - Khanlar Hajiyev, who has already served as a European court judge, the judge of the Azizbayov district of Baku and the Nasimi district court judge.