Azerbaijan grants new powers to heads of investigative and inquiry bodies

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has signed into law a set of amendments to Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, expanding the authority of senior officials within the country's investigative and inquiry bodies.

Under the new provisions, the heads of structural units within investigative agencies—or their deputies, when applicable—will have the power to reassign criminal cases from one investigator to another under certain circumstances. These include situations where an investigator is unable to perform their duties due to death, serious illness, or other incapacitating factors, or when supervisory oversight reveals delays in the investigation process that significantly hinder proceedings.

In accordance with statutory provisions, any such reassignment necessitates a formal written notification to the prosecutorial authority responsible for the procedural oversight of the preliminary inquiry. The initiative aims to facilitate the uninterrupted progression of cases in scenarios where the designated investigator does not execute timely interventions or is otherwise hindered from discharging their obligations.

An analogous augmentation of jurisdiction is pertinent to the leaders of niche investigative divisions. Consider a scenario where an investigator is identified as impeding advancement owing to analogous factors or a lack of due diligence in executing requisite measures to elucidate or scrutinize a criminal act. In this scenario, the unit head is now vested with the authority to reallocate the case, contingent upon providing formal written notification to the supervising prosecutor.