Crime rate reducing in Azerbaijan's army
By Jamila Babayeva
The overall crime rate in Azerbaijan's army is reducing, Defense Ministry's Law Department Head, Colonel of Justice Rauf Kishiyev said in an interview with a local newspaper.
"Statistics show that the overall crime rate in the army have reduced," Kishiyev told "Azerbaijani Army" newspaper.
"Many factors are behind the trend including: adoption of new measures to strengthen logistical support of the army, improvement of social status of servicemen, setting of preventive punishment for crimes, holding enlightening events consistently pursued by commanders and chiefs, training of personnel to respect the laws, developing the legal culture of the servicemen and others."
He said that establishment of some investigative bodies within the ministry was absolutely a right step in the right direction.
He further said the works were underway to improve the efficiency of the investigating bodies.
"Based on an order by Defense Minister, a new decision was adopted in May to regulate the activities of investigative bodies and conduct internal investigations. The decision defines the procedure of the investigation, and involves relative investigative bodies and the military units," he noted.
Kishiyev said drafting new disciplinary regulations of the armed forces was being finalized. "The bill provides articles on administrative detention. Appropriate mechanisms have been developed for its effective implementation," he added.
Kishiyev stressed the necessity of providing a mechanism to implement administrative detention for specific administrative offenses to prevent abuse of power by army commanders. "Their responsibilities have been precisely defined and criminal responsibility for the offenses have been fixed."
He said the main factor leading to a large number of offenses were harassment among servicemen. "They lead to the violation of military discipline and offenses. Also there are facts of arbitrariness," he noted.
Military service is mandatory in Azerbaijan for men between the ages of 18 and 35. The length of military service is 18 months for each man. University graduates serve only 12 months.