Azerbaijan Republic Justice Ministry returned the registration documents of the Monitoring of Human Rights in the Regions Public Union. The Ministry stated that the union was not registered because it did not pay the 11 AZN state fee even though the receipt confirming that the fee was paid was attached to the documents.
Monitoring of Human Rights in the Regions Public Union chairman Elman Abbasov told this to the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety on 15 July.
“We prepared all the documents in accordance with the legislation and attached the receipt of payment for the state fee to the documents when we sent them to the Justice Ministry,” said Abbasov. “The Ministry threw out the receipt to deny us registration. As a precaution, we kept a copy of the receipt.”
Abbasov stressed that the response from the Ministry was sent directly to the address where his passport is registered, but not to the organization’s legal address in Baku.
Additionally, the registration documents were considered on 1 July 2010; however they were delivered to Abbasov’s address 15 days later. “This is a sign that the Ministry is looking for excuses to not allow the union to become registered,” added Abbasov.
The Monitoring of Human Rights in the Regions Public Union was founded in May 2010.