Azernews.Az

The European Court of Human Rights has reviewed 1,765 complaints filed by Azerbaijan's citizens since the country ratified the European convention on human rights, the court's Azerbaijani judge Khanlar Hajiyev has said.

Hajiyev said in an interview with Trend news agency that currently there are 1,475 pleas pending. Some 74 of the complaints have been combined, and on the basis of correspondence between the parties, a draft decision on the complaints will be prepared.

On 97 complaints filed against Azerbaijan, a decision was adopted claiming the violation of a provision of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, he said. Less than half of the 1,475 complaints were filed by Armenians who previously lived in Azerbaijan. The remaining complaints are being readied for consideration.

"In court, the consideration time of complaints is delayed," Hajiyev said. "This is due to a shortage of lawyers. Presently, [only] one lawyer works on [cases regarding] Azerbaijan in the European court on the basis of a permanent contract. In July, an examination on the selection of a lawyer was held. I think that another lawyer's beginning work will speed up the consideration of complaints."

Hajiyev said further that the number of complaints rejected by the court has been growing in recent years.

He said the European court's experts are seeking ways to accelerate consideration of the complaints. Therefore, a protocol was passed defining the new procedures to address the issue and new institutions were established. In accordance with the newly adopted protocol, judges review the rejected complaints on their own.

Hajiyev noted that if a claim is made in violation of the Convention, it is rejected.

"For Azerbaijan, the most frequent cause of rejection of appeals is that they are prepared as an appeal to the fourth instance," Hajiyev said. "The court cannot examine each actual case and considers only violations stemming from the Convention. The plaintiff must lay out the issue in a very clear and reasonable manner. In some complaints received from Azerbaijan, it is unclear what exactly the violation is."

According to Hajiyev, sometimes the European court is criticized over "considering complaints mechanically" and "issuing rulings superficially".

"It is dishonest to say that, because judges working in the European court are lawyers who have high moral qualities and profound knowledge of the law," Hajiyev said.

He said the European court is regularly in dialogue with national courts and is not "a closed, inaccessible organization". It is an institution with 60 years of experience deeply respected throughout the world.

"The party that does not agree with its decision should justify its protest not by opinions of false and defamatory nature, but by legal arguments," Hajiyev added.