Lawyers criticize Aliev's order on the Bar development in Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev has issued an order on the development of the legal profession (the Bar Association) in the country. However, the authorities have failed to envisage any mechanisms to protect the independence of lawyers; and the measures stipulated in the document will put the Bar under full government's control, the lawyers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

Asabali Mustafaev, an advocate, believes that the presidential order is a positive step, but it should be followed by measures to strengthen the independence of the Bar.

"All that is written in the document is no more than nice words. The declared goals are contrary to the practice. It is asserted that legal assistance should be provided to low-income population groups, and on the other hand, they liquidate the institution of representing citizens' interests in courts by persons who are not lawyers," said Elman Fattakh, a legal expert and an activist of the "Musavat" Party.

He has added that most professional and honest lawyers had been excluded from the Bar on fictitious grounds, namely: Yalchin Imanov and Fakhraddin Mekhtiev.

Intigam Aliev, a rights defender and the head of the Society for Legal Education, believes that the authorities are helpless in strengthening the Bar, because all these years they tried to deprive lawyers of their independence.