Azerbaijani court declines to expunge conviction of prominent human rights activist
Rufat Safarov’s criminal record still stands
The Azerbaijani court rejected the appeal of the well-known human rights activist, leaving his criminal record intact. Rufat Safarov, formerly an investigator and later a political prisoner turned human rights activist, is currently gearing up for the bar exams. To qualify as a lawyer, one must have a clean record. However, the judge opined that he has yet to undergo sufficient “reformation.”
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Rufat Safarov, the executive director of the human rights organization “Line of Defense,” filed a court petition seeking the withdrawal of his conviction. The Binagadi District Court deliberated on his appeal for a week, and on January 29, Judge Abbas Rzayev rendered a decision, ultimately rejecting the plea of the human rights advocate.
Rufat Safarov served as an investigator at the Zardab District Prosecutor’s Office and resigned in December 2015. In his resignation letter, he expressed his unwillingness to tolerate persistent human rights violations, corruption, and lawlessness within the prosecutor’s office, prompting him to take this decisive step.
Shortly after Rufat Safarov made his statement, the residence in Zardab where he lived was searched, leading to the initiation of a criminal case against him. He faced charges under Article 311.3.2 (repeated bribery) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. Initially, he was held in pre-trial detention for 3 months and 26 days during the investigation. However, approximately a week later, he was released under house arrest. Subsequently, the criminal case was adjudicated in the Lankaran Court for Serious Crimes, resulting in Rufat Safarov being sentenced to 9 years in prison.
He was granted a presidential pardon and released in March 2019.
A human rights activist informed Meydan TV that, as per the law, a sentence for serious crimes is considered served six years after its imposition. Nevertheless, the legislation permits the early expungement of a criminal record. Rufat Safarov stated that there is approximately one year remaining in his sentence, prompting him to file a court application seeking the early removal of his criminal record.
Rufat Safarov added that he aspires to work as a lawyer and plans to prepare for the bar exams. For this purpose, he is seeking early expungement of his criminal record:
“Even though there is one year remaining in my sentence, the prosecutor representing the General Prosecutor’s Office asserted in court that there are no grounds for expunging my criminal record. The judge concurred, stating, ‘Considering the nature of Rufat Safarov’s committed crime and the absence of evidence of his reformation, his application should be denied.’ They are correct; I have not undergone the alleged ‘reformation’ as they claim.”
Rufat Safarov serves as the executive director of “Line of Defense,” an organization established in the summer of 2020. The organization is committed to safeguarding the rights and freedoms of citizens.
He is the son of Eldar Sabiroglu, a former Member of Parliament and the former head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. Rufat Safarov’s father had to resign from his position shortly after the events surrounding him.
