Azernews.Az

Rulings issued by Azerbaijan's Constitutional Court form important legal framework for protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens, chairman Farhad Abdullayev has said.

"It is commendable that in most cases when the disputes are reviewed in courts, the rulings of the Constitutional Court are referenced," Abdullayev said in an interview with Trend news agency on the occasion of the 14th anniversary of the Constitutional Court.

"The appeals of the courts, whose number is increasing daily, to the Constitutional Court, show once again that judges of general courts are deeply conscious of the responsibility of making decisions on behalf of the state.

"Therefore, in most cases, the judges halt the proceedings and refer them to the Constitutional Court, trying to get the view of a higher authority on a constitutional review, based on the principles of the Constitution. This fact ultimately acts as a guarantor of passing fair rulings in court," Abdullayev said.

According to him, rulings of the Constitutional Court attach great importance to a number of key international instruments setting forth human rights and freedoms. These include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The court chairman also stressed the experience of the European Court of Human Rights, saying that many rulings of the Constitutional Court reflect the rule of law and other principles widely used in case law of the European court.

229 rulings have been adopted by Azerbaijan's Constitutional Court, 25 of which were handed down last year and 12 will be issued by July 14, 2012, Abdullayev said.

"We can say that the Constitutional Court has taken relevant decisions on matters relating to all areas of law [civil, administrative, criminal, tax, etc.]," Abdullayev said.

Abdullayev said that the legal premise of the court rulings, along with their individual and subjective nature resulting from long discussions among nine judges, include current trends of European law.

Abdullayev also said that 1,788 appeals and complaints were received by the court in 2011 and 812 in the first half of 2012. He added that most of incoming pleas are complaints against judicial acts.