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Head of Justice Ministryâ€™s Department: â€œLegal nihilism dominated at foreign NGOsâ€

31 January 2014 14:14 (UTC +04:00)

“We don’t intend to suspend the activity of any NGO”

Baku. Ramiz Mikayiloglu – APA. “It is impossible to revoke the registration of NGOs that haven’t operated in Azerbaijan for 3 years. Though the Civil Code envisages liquidation of the organization not operating for 3 years, the Constitutional Court passed judgment not to implement it in 2005,”said head of Justice Ministry’s Department of Legal Entities and Citizenship Status Rahim Rahimov, APA reports.

Rahimov said that the annexes and amendments to legislation envisage warning NGOs, fining and suspension of their activities at the final stage: “Though there are sufficient grounds in the legislation, which NGOs were closed in the last decade? 14 violations of the law by the NGOs were recorded in 2013, only 1 of them was fined. We don’t intend to suspend the activity of any NGO. The Ministry of Justice wants to adopt rules for the study of the activities of NGOs. Rules for the study of the activities of NGOs will be determined under the order of the President, the decision of the Council of Ministers. It is needed to examine whether the grants allocated for NGOs are used in terrorism and other prohibited areas or not.

Rahimov also commented on the concerns over the closure of NGO basing on the appeal of NGO members to court.
“There is Blind and Visually Impaired Society and other NGOs having thousands of members in Azerbaijan. These NGOs have large properties, and there are serious disputed over these properties. Court, not Justice Ministry must solve this problem,” he said.

Department chief said some organizations come to Azerbaijan under the pretext of humanitarian activity, and are engaged in religious activity.

“With the recent amendments and annexes, the rights of foreign NGOs and local NGOs in Azerbaijan have been equalized. Legal nihilism dominated at foreign NGOs. The aim of the recent amendments and annexes to the legislation, is to eliminate legal nihilism”.