Under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, special attention is paid to ensuring human rights, including the rights of prisoners, improving legislation, humanizing penitentiary policy, carrying out reforms and wide public participation.
The Ministry of Justice is taking necessary preventive steps against the global COVID-19 infection under the leadership of the President and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, continuing the activities of penitentiary and medical services in an intensified mode, improving the lives and health of prisoners and accused. Their daily thermometry is carried out under strict control.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Justice, in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization, the Ministry's Main Medical Department, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Health and MEDICINE, organized laboratory tests by taking test samples of detainees in penitentiaries. Individual prisoners who tested positive for the virus were immediately isolated, placed in a specially established unit in a specialized treatment facility, and quarantined after full recovery after intensive treatment.
It should be noted that there is no epidemiologically tense environment in all penitentiaries, and control measures are ongoing.
The situation in this area is also regularly studied by a monitoring group consisting of civil society representatives of the ministry. During the past period, 65 monitoring was conducted in penitentiaries to get acquainted with the conditions of detention, food, food, medical and medicine, food rations and sanitation. - Special attention was paid to the hygienic condition and disinfection.
The delivery of gifts and envelopes to prisoners suspended due to the pandemic has been restored as part of the easing of the quarantine regime in the country. It was also decided to provide short-term visits to prisoners in strict compliance with sanitary and epidemiological requirements, taking into account the further easing of quarantine rules as a result of the gradual reduction of the spread of infection in the country. In this regard, the existing short-term meeting rooms in penitentiaries have been reconstructed in accordance with these requirements, and glass partitions and booths equipped with talking devices have been set up. Short-term meetings have already begun for convicts and detainees in accordance with the conditions created in most institutions.
At the same time, prisoners' telephone conversations have been expanded to keep in touch with their families.
At the same time, parole, which plays an important role in the reintegration of prisoners into society, has intensified in recent months. In order to ensure transparency and objectivity in this area, the Ministry's Civil Society Commission held regular virtual meetings via video conference. personal files were studied and materials on convicts meeting the requirements of the legislation were submitted to the courts.
With the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code made on the legislative initiative of the President, the holding of a video conference in criminal cases has created a favorable opportunity for this humane institution to be easier, more flexible and secure for prisoners.
Thus, in connection with the entry into force of the new law on 15.07.2020, the Ministry immediately took the necessary measures and began to conduct criminal proceedings online in video conference format.
To date, about 400 submissions by courts via videoconference, including those on parole and transfer to a precinct-type penitentiary institution, based on the opinions of the Ministry's Commission, as well as on the implementation of legislation adopted to humanize penal policy, have been implemented. viewed.
As a result of the continued application of these humanistic institutions and the use of modern information technology in this regard, 1,727 people were released early or transferred to a light regime facility this year, of which about 80%, or 1,333 people, are in the current pandemic. At the same time, 493 detainees were released, including 408 during the pandemic as a result of house arrest and other alternative measures.