By keeping detainees isolated from relatives and their lawyers for long periods of time, the Interior Ministry effectively encourages torture, the report says. Much of the damage inflicted on victims heals, at least superficially, before a judge becomes involved in the case. In addition, Azerbaijani law leaves it entirely in the discretion of the police or prosecutors to approve a detainee's request for a medical examination. Prisoners virtually have no access to the courts to either review the grounds for which they are being held or to complain about ill treatment before their actual trial, the report says. In more than 20 cases investigated by HRW, no judge ruled inadmissible any confessions or testimony alleged to have been gained through torture.
Corruption also is an integral part of the system.
In one case, a Baku resident told HRW that his son was beaten to death in police custody before he was able to sell his family's household possessions to raise the full amount of the bribe demanded by the police for his son's release. Police also actively discourage detainees from even seeking an attorney and, even when a defendant does obtain a lawyer, they rarely are permitted access to their clients or to forensic evidence collected by the police. ''Poor human rights conditions and high levels of corruption show the government's general disrespect for the rule of law and international commitments it has made,'' according to Cartner, who adds that this ''doesn't bode well for foreign investment in Azerbaijan. In its recommendations, HRW urges the World Bank to expand its own role in reviewing judicial systems and criminal procedures and to set targets for its lending in these areas. If improvements are not made according to those targets, donors should suspend disbursements, the report says.