Rights defenders treat refusal to reinstate Gasanov in the ABA

Alaif Gasanov, an Azerbaijani lawyer, has filed a lawsuit against the Azerbaijani Bar Association (ABA) with a demand to restore his membership in this body. The ABA does not accept Gasanov into its ranks on a far-fetched pretext, a member of the Civil Society Platform and the head of the Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners assert.

In November 2014, Gasanov was found guilty under the "Insult" article and sentenced to 240 hours of community service. This became the ground for the ABA to exclude Gasanov; and he lost the right to practice the law. He is sure that he was expelled from the ABA for political reasons.

"The real reason for this punishment was my disclosure of flagrant violations of my client's rights, Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), believes. This sentence was used as a pretext for remove me from the legal profession," Alaif Gasanov insists.

"He worked as an advocate for many years and defended a lot of people. He has not lost this knowledge. In the conditions when the country sees an acute shortage of lawyers, it is absolutely illogical and inefficient to refuse to reinstate an experienced lawyer at the ABA," said Khalid Agaliev, a member of the Civil Society Platform.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported about other cases of removal of well-known Azerbaijani lawyers from their professional activities. In March, the Institute for Human Rights of the International Bar Association condemned Shakhla Gumbatova's disbarment.