The Plenum of the Constitutional Court, based on the inquiry of the Prosecutor General's Office, has interpreted Articles 12.1 and 12.5 of the Criminal Code in connection.
Medianews.az reports that according to Article 12.1, Azerbaijani citizens and stateless persons permanently residing in Azerbaijan are criminally liable for acts (actions or inactions) committed outside the borders of Azerbaijan if these acts are considered crimes under both the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the foreign state where the act occurred, and if those persons have not been convicted in the foreign state for these crimes.
According to Article 12.5, the punishment imposed by the courts of the Republic of Azerbaijan on persons mentioned in Article 12.1 cannot exceed the maximum limit of the punishment provided by the law of the foreign state where the crime was committed.
Thus, an official limitation has been imposed regarding the upper limit of the punishment assigned to Azerbaijani citizens and persons permanently residing in Azerbaijan without citizenship for acts committed abroad.
There is no limitation regarding the lower limit.
For this reason, the Prosecutor General's Office applied to the Constitutional Court requesting an interpretation. The application noted that the absence of a specified lower limit for the punishment, despite the limitation on the upper limit for acts committed abroad, leads to different approaches in practice regarding the application of punishment.
The Prosecutor General's Office stated that according to the opinion of some law enforcers, in accordance with the principles of humanism and justice of criminal law, norms of the foreign state's criminal law that are beneficial to the person and stipulate a lighter punishment should be applied to persons who have committed crimes abroad.
The inquiry from the Prosecutor General's Office further noted that there is a different approach as well. This approach is that when imposing punishment in the courts of the Republic of Azerbaijan for these persons, the lower limit of the punishment should be the lower limit provided by the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan for the respective act.
The Plenum of the Constitutional Court made a decision on September 30, 2025, regarding the application of the Prosecutor General's Office.
The decision states that the lower limit of the punishment imposed by the courts of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Azerbaijani citizens and stateless persons permanently residing in Azerbaijan who have committed crimes abroad cannot be restricted by the lower limit of the punishment provided by the law of the foreign state where the crime was committed. The Constitutional Court believes that this matter should be resolved by the criminal legislation of Azerbaijan, not the foreign state.
According to the decision of September 30, 2025, the lower limit of punishment for crimes committed by Azerbaijani citizens and stateless persons permanently residing in Azerbaijan on the territory of a foreign country should be determined by the relevant articles of the special part of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The descriptive-reasoning part of the decision provides detailed explanations.
The Constitutional Court, consisting of 9 judges, is responsible for issues related to the compliance of laws, decrees, orders and decisions, normative legal acts with the constitution and laws; resolving disputes concerning the division of powers among legislative, executive, and judicial authorities; and also interpreting the Constitution of Azerbaijan and laws.
Citizens may file complaints to the Constitutional Court regarding normative acts of legislative and executive authorities, as well as municipality and court acts.
Every decision of the Constitutional Court is final; no authority or person may cancel or change the decision.
Toğrul Ali,
Medianews.az
