In a new report released today, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) found that the independence of the legal profession in Azerbaijan remains compromised by executive control and influence over the Bar Association, discriminatory admission practices, the punitive use of disciplinary proceedings, and the harassment and prosecution of independent lawyers. These deficiencies, together with the lack of independence of the judiciary, deprive defendants in criminal proceedings of the substantive protections that the right to a fair trial requires under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Justice Under Pressure: Independence of Lawyers and the Right to a Fair Trial in Azerbaijan assesses developments since the ICJ’s 2018 briefing paper on legislation restricting court representation and its 2016 report Defenceless Defenders. It finds that the recommendations made by the ICJ and other international organizations have not been substantially implemented, and that earlier patterns of executive interference with the legal profession persist.
The report documents that admission to the Azerbaijan Bar Association continues to be used to exclude lawyers perceived as human rights defenders, that disciplinary proceedings have functioned as instruments of control rather than as safeguards of professional integrity, and that lawyers representing clients in politically sensitive cases face disbarment, criminal prosecution and other forms of reprisal. According to lawyers interviewed by the ICJ, only a small group of human rights lawyers remains willing or able to act in such cases. Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights finding violations of the rights of disbarred lawyers, including in the cases of Intigam Aliyev, Khalid Bagirov and Aslan Ismayilov, remain largely unexecuted, and none of these lawyers has been reinstated.
The report examines how these structural deficiencies operated in the criminal proceedings before the Baku Military Court against former officials of the de facto authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh, taken as a case study reflecting wider issues in the administration of justice. The ICJ finds that civilians were tried before a military court; that defendants were denied effective access to counsel of their choosing; that case materials were withheld or provided in a language the accused did not understand; that defence motions were dismissed without reasoning and omitted from the trial record; that interpretation was inadequate or absent; and that public access, including by accredited diplomatic representatives, was denied. The proceedings fell short of the guarantees of fairness and equality of arms required under international human rights law.
The ICJ has urged the authorities of Azerbaijan to ensure that the Azerbaijan Bar Association operates as a genuinely independent self-governing body, to cease reprisals against lawyers representing clients in politically sensitive cases, to reinstate lawyers disbarred in violation of international law and standards, including those whose disbarments the European Court of Human Rights has found to violate Convention rights, and to ensure that all defendants have effective access to counsel of their choosing at all stages of the proceedings, including on appeal.
Background
The ICJ has engaged with the independence of the legal profession in Azerbaijan over the past decade. Its 2016 report Defenceless Defenders: Systemic Problems in the Legal Profession in Azerbaijan documented executive interference in the work of lawyers and in the functioning of the Azerbaijan Bar Association, and its 2018 briefing paper analysed legislation restricting court representation. The present report is based on research from open sources, including judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and reports of United Nations and Council of Europe bodies, and on interviews with legal professionals and human rights lawyers from Azerbaijan, conducted in 2025.
Justice Under Pressure: Independence of Lawyers and the Right to a Fair Trial in Azerbaijan (ICJ, 2026) is available here.
