A lawsuit filed by the “Monitoring Elections and Teaching Democracy Center (METDC)” organization on 9 June 2009 in the Yasamal District Court against Azerbaijan Republic Ministry of Justice over the failure to register the organization has been returned back for the second time according to a 16 June 2009 courts decision.
The Election Monitoring Center’s registration was annulled on 14 May 2008. After this, members of that organization established METDC on 1 December 2008 and on 2 February 2009 they appealed to the Ministry of Justice for registration. The founders of the organizations appealed to court because the Ministry of Justice refused to register METDC.
The Yasamal District Court stated that the plaintiff’s documents submitted to prove their claim did not have necessary copies of documents ratified by a lawyer.
METDC representative Intigam Aliyev said that the court did not indicate these as the reasons when they returned the lawsuit the first time. He said the court’s decision is red tape and a way to prolong the consideration of the case.
The Yasamal District Court stated that the plaintiff’s documents submitted to prove their claim did not have necessary copies of documents ratified by a lawyer.
METDC representative Intigam Aliyev said that the court did not indicate these as the reasons when they returned the lawsuit the first time. He said the court’s decision is red tape and a way to prolong the consideration of the case.
The first time METDC filed a lawsuit against Azerbaijan Republic Ministry of Justice on 13 May 2009 in connection with “Considering the rejection of NGO to be registered by state illegal and violation of right to association” in the Yasamal District Court and the lawsuit was sent back on 25 May 2009. It was noted in the decision that METDC did not include the original of the document showing the organization paid the obligatory state fee.