Azerbaijani court refuses to transfer rights defender Jafarov to home arrest

On December 10, the Nasimi District Court of Baku considered the petition asking to transfer the rights defender Rasul Jafarov from custody to home arrest. The court rejected the petition; and his defence intends to appeal against the decision.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in July, Rasul Jafarov, a coordinator of the campaign "Art for Democracy", was banned from leaving Azerbaijan, and his bank accounts were arrested. On August 2, the human rights defender was arrested for three month on charges under articles "illegal entrepreneurship", "tax evasion", and "abuse of power" of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

"During the December 10 court session, we pointed out that there is no need to keep Rasul Jafarov in custody, because from the very beginning he didn't evade the inquiry, submitted all the required documents and is personally interested in bringing the investigation to the end, because he believes that he is innocent," Fariz Namazly, Jafarov's advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his version, "Jafarov is well-known in the society; he is a person who values his reputation; and he will not hide from the inquiry." "On the other hand, no investigatory actions have been conducted in relation to Jafarov in recent months. Why should he be kept behind bars for no purpose?" asked the lawyer.

However, according to his story, the investigation party has opposed any changes of his freedom restriction measure; and the court rejected the defence's petition.

As noted by Namazly, the defence plans to lodge an appeal until the end of this week.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.