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Justice Minister of the Netherlands: â€œAt this moment 6 Azeri nationals remain in detention in the Netherlandsâ€

09 August 2010 13:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementieva â€“ APA. Minister of Justice of the Netherlands Ernst Hirsch Ballin gives an interview to APA

- What will be the aim of your visit to our country? What meetings will you have during the visit?

- I visit Azerbaijan at the invitation of my Azerbaijani fellow Minister of Justice Fikrat Mammadov. The theme of the visit is further improving of the excellent bilateral contacts and cooperation in the field of justice and immigration. This cooperation is also important for the effective combating of cross-border crime, such as human trafficking and human smuggling, and fighting illegal migration. The Dutch Ministry of Justice co-operates with the Government of Azerbaijan in promoting the rule of law in Azerbaijan by means of projects. These projects focus inter alia on improvements in the field of administrative law and detention circumstances. During the working visit, I will speak with Minister of the Interior, President of the Supreme Court, Procurator General and the Chief directors of the State Migration Service and State Border Service, among others. I will also visit the recently constructed pre-trial detention centre in Baku.

- Are you going to sign any bilateral agreements in justice sphere between our countries during the visit? And how many agreements were already signed between our countries?

- In justice sphere a Memorandum of Understanding on non-operational cooperation on criminal matters is to be signed during the visit. Other already exisiting agreements in the sphere of justice are: Memorandum of Understanding on the co-operation against illegal migration and Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral legal cooperation.

- How do you see the future cooperation between our countries? Any common projects in justice system?

- The recent opening of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Azerbaijan is a next step in the development of our bilateral cooperation. The Embassy has a broad spectrum of activities and we hope our relations in all these field will deepen in the next years. The current visit confirms the interest in further cooperation between our countries.

- Is there any agreement between Azerbaijan and Netherlands on the exchange of the prisoners and detained people?

- No, this is so far not the case.

- And how many Azeri citizens are serving sentence in the Netherlands and vice versa, is any citizen of the Netherlands serving sentence in our country?

- At this moment 6 Azeri nationals remain in detention in the Netherlands. One person remains in pre-trial custody, one person remains in penal detention and 4 persons are in aliens detention. Currently, there are no Dutch nationals in detention in Azerbaijan.

- Do the penal institutions in Azerbaijan meet the European standards?

- I will visit the Baku pre-trial detention facility. Even though challenges remain to be overcome in this respect, we support efforts by the Azerbaijani Gouvernment in improving prisonersâ€™ living conditions by building new detention facilities in the passed few years.