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Azerbaijan refuses establishing Jury Trial

20 June 2014 13:40 (UTC +04:00)

APA reports that Chairman of Azerbaijani Parliament's committee on legal policy and state-building Ali Huseynli gave information about the draft law.

He noted that the two documents were also discussed at the Judicial Council: “Though the law “On courts and judges” envisaged establishing a jury trial after the completion of judicial and legal reforms in the country, the General Prosecutor's Office studied experiences in this field in a number of countries and revealed that assize courts are not useful as expected.

When a case is considered by jurors, a judge doesn’t participate in passing a judgment. It can lead to judgments without sufficient grounds. The reason is that, sometimes jurors who didn’t study law can’t carry out legal proceedings. These facts can lead to the violation of the principles of the criminal law. Taking these facts into account, the General Prosecutor's Office considers it inexpedient to establish the jury trial.”

Though some MPs supported establishing the jury trial during the discussions, the majority voted for not establishing it. Thus the proposal was considered and the establishment of the jury trial in Azerbaijan was refused.