The delegation headed by the President of the Supreme Court Mr. Ramiz Rzayev visited Croatia

     The delegation headed by the President of the Supreme Court Mr. Ramiz Rzayev took part in International Conference of Presidents of the Supreme Courts Central and Eastern European countries, that passed on in the Republic of Croatia from 11- 14 October 2015.

     The Conference carried on in round-table format was dedicated to resolving the existing problems the courts are facing and exchanged views on issues of common interest.

     The participants discussed the issue of reforms in judicial system, including delays in the judicial process, improvement the efficiency of the courts, judicial acts ensuring the effectiveness of trial evidences, alternative dispute resolution, the courts and the public - media relations, the independence of judges on an institutional and individual level; some presentations were prepared on best practices. It was noted, that following the establishment of the constitutional democracy in a number of Central and Eastern European countries, reforms were conducted  in judicial systems. Participants of the events discussed the goals of these reforms, existing positive changes in the courts and focused on the causes of some negative consequences. 

     On the first session of the event the President of the Supreme Court Mr. Rzayev gave a speech and spoke about the reforms in judicial system undertaken in recent years and gave detailed information on achievements.

      In addition to reducing the duration of the trial, acess to justice and ensuring efficiency, the roles of experts, decreasing the volume of complaints, possibility of implementation of such reforms as well as drawing attention to the issues on the creation of a common judicial practices and improvement the roles of the Supreme Courts were thoroughly discussed.

     The participants talked over the advantages of the judicial decisions in defence of the trial and obtained evidences, shared good practices and exchanged the views on the supervisory powers of the judges on certain cases, witnesses and presentation of evidence. At the same time, the possibility of the settlement of the postponed cases were discussed, where involved parties, witnesses, experts and other participants in the process fail to appear in court session.

     The participants of the conference discussed reducing the workload of the courts and the settlement of disputes by alternative means, opening a debates on the functioning of the institution of mediation and the relevant role of mediators. The Vice-President of the of the Supreme People's Court of China, who took part in the event as a special guest, gave broad information on the mediation institute in her country.

     The issue of increasing communication of the courts with the public by means of press secretaries was also considered during the conference, there has been an exchange of views on relations with the media. Creation of electronic courts network and current problems of the judicial system in this regard were highlighted. It was noted that public support and confidence in the judiciary is a part of the normal functioning of the system.

     The speaker underlined the necessity of the independence of the judiciary and judges at the individual level, as well as talked over the provisions of the institutional independence.

    On the last day of the Conference participants adopted the “Statement of Principles of the Independence of the Judiciary".