Baku: Azerbaijan's legislative body has introduced new regulations requiring the presence of psychologists during the questioning of minors in both civil and criminal cases. Children will now have the right to express their opinions on matters related to their cases, in accordance with legal procedures, APA reports.

According to Azeri-Press News Agency, the draft Law 'On the Rights of the Child' was discussed at a meeting of the Milli Majlis Committee on Family, Women and Children's Affairs. The proposed law emphasizes that the process of obtaining a child's opinion should be informative, respectful, safe, and conducted by a specialist trained in child-related matters.

In line with these developments, amendments to civil and criminal procedural legislation are being proposed. The changes to the Civil Procedure Code and the Criminal Procedure Code will require a psychologist to be present during the collection of a child's opinion in civil cases and throughout investigative procedures in criminal cases. This includes the questioning of minor witnesses or victims, confrontations, on-site verification of statements, investigative experiments, and the collection of samples for examination.