Supreme court of Azerbaijan, 2016. Photo (c): Murad Orudzhev / RIA Novosti. All rights reserved.Samed Rahimli is a Baku-based lawyer with a long track record of advocacy for detainees in Azerbaijan’s jails. This year, Rahimli co-founded Praktik Hüquqşünaslar Qrupu, an advocacy initiative determined to oppose new changes to Azerbaijan’s legal profession.
On 31 October, Azerbaijan’s parliament approved amendments to the civil code which give the state-controlled bar association full control over practicing law in the country. Azerbaijan’s lawyers are either licensed members of the bar who have had to take a highly politicised examination, or “hüquqşünaslar”, registered lawyers who are not members of the bar, but are entitled to represent their clients in non-criminal cases.
The changes could lead to thousands of lawyers becoming unable to represent anybody in a court of law. Observers have already decried the move as part of an intensifying crackdown on the handful of human rights lawyers who still remain in the country (following the legislative changes, some lawyers have reported being called to their local police stations).
