Paragraph 18

 

An amendment to Article 113.2 requires that cancellation of candidate (or referendum campaign group) registration be based on “an order established by the legislation if there is a court verdict in force on the criminal case” or “a court decision on the administrative offence”. This is an improvement in the current text of Article 113.2. However, the grounds for cancellation remain very broad (12 full paragraphs after amendment). In order to protect the presumption of innocence and right to appeal, the authorities of Azerbaijan have stated that the amended text is clear in the original language version that cancellation cannot occur until there is a final court judgment after exhaustion of all legal appeals. With this additional clarification, and as long as the same substantive safeguards required for a criminal trial are also required for proceedings on an administrative offence, the amendment can be considered as a significant step. However, the previous recommendations have not been fully met as the grounds for cancellation are very broad and disproportionate.