Ministry of Justice (Azerbaijan)

The Ministry of Justice was one of the first ministries of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic established on May 28, 1918, the day of declaration of independence of Azerbaijan.[1] Its statute was ratified by the National Assembly of Azerbaijan on November 22, 1918.[2] After the occupation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic by the 11@th Army of Soviet Russia in May 1920 the Ministry of Justice was abolished, and by the decision of the Azerbaijan Revolutionary Committee the People's Commissariat of Justice was established instead.

In 1930, the Commissariat was liquidated, all its competencies were transferred to the Supreme Court, the Central Executive Committee, the prosecutor's office and other bodies.[3]

In 1933, the People's Commissariat of Justice was reorganized, and it was responsible for drafting bills, interpreting laws, training judicial personnel, providing legal assistance to the population, penitentiary system management, and so on.

In 1937, the new Statute of the People's Commissariat of Justice was approved. As a consequence, the powers of the People's Commissariat of Justice were significantly limited.

In 1959, the Ministry of Justice was abolished again, and the management of all the operations of the Judiciary was transferred to the Supreme Court.

The second birthday of the Ministry of Justice of the Azerbaijan SSR is considered to be October 27, 1970, when Heydar Aliyev came to power in the republic.

By presidential decree of November 11, 2000, the day of the approval of the first Regulation of the Ministry of Justice (November 22) was declared a professional day for the judicial officials.

The new "Statute of the Ministry of Justice" was approved by the Presidential Decree of April 18, 2006 in order to modernize the legal basis of the ministry and bring it in line with international standards.

The ministry manages the state policies and management in the field of justice through its legal expertise, record keeping and state registration of legal acts. It also takes part in development of legislation, drafting laws, formulating proposals on draft legal acts and providing legal awareness. The ministry also oversees the state registration of legal entities, maintaining register of publications. Notary activities, registering of civil status acts, intergovernmental matters on adoption, legalization of documents also fall within the scope of the ministry's activity. Furthermore, the agency is in charge of enforcement of judicial decisions, organizational provision of the courts, gathering judicial data as well as registration of grant agreements to be allocated to the non-profit organizations.[2] The ministry is currently headed by Fikrat Mammadov appointed in April 2000.

The Ministry of Justice is headed by the Minister of Justice, who has three deputies, as well as the head of the Penitentiary Service.

The structure of the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan includes:

• Directorate General for Organization and Control
• Directorate General for Legislation
• Directorate General for Registration and Notaries
• Directorate General of Compulsory Enforcement
• Municipality Administration Center
• Probation Service
• Department of International Cooperation
• Human Rights and Public Relations Department
• Investigation Department
• Human Resources Administration
• Penal Enforcement Inspectorate
• The Secretariat
• The Department Finance and Insurance Management
• The Department of Information and Communication Technologies Management

The legal bodies of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan are:

• Prison Service
• Judicial Academy
• Central Medical Department
• Institute of Legal Expertise
• Department of Population Register of the Republic of Azerbaijan
• Regional, local and other organizations

• Cabinet of Azerbaijan
• Judiciary of Azerbaijan
• Justice ministry
• Azərbaycan Ədliyyə Nazirləri (Ministers of Justice of Azerbaijan)
• Politics of Azerbaijan