The Baku Court of Grave Crimes chaired by Eldar Ismailov held a preparatory meeting on the case of the human rights activist Rasul Jafarov on January 15.
The trial of the activist caused an increased interest and the courtroom was packed. The trial was also observed by the diplomatic corps of the Western states.
Jafarov was put in a double iron cage, so he could not come to the audience in the hall.
At the preparatory meeting the lawyer Fariz Namazly petitioned for termination of the criminal proceedings in the absence of evidence of Jafarov’s guilt.
In case of failure to meet this request, the defense offered to add additional financial documents proving innocence of Jafarov.
The lawyer noted that Jafarov, being a physical person, concluded a grant agreement and the funds were allocated for the implementation of projects. "This is unreasonably interpreted by the investigation as illegal business," said the lawyer.
Jafarov himself paid taxes from his personal income. Some of the proceeds to his account were improperly interpreted as income, as they provided for payment of transportation expenses for activities and material assistance to others, in particular, the arrested activist of NIDA Ilkin Rustamzadeh.
The people involved in the case as victims have no claims to Jafarov either.
At the meeting, two "victims," Ahmed Heybatov and Anar Jabiyev confirmed that they suffered no damage from the activities of Jafarov and do not have claims against him. Therefore, the lawyer petitioned for removal the status from the victims.
Namazly also called to change the measure of restraint for house arrest because the investigation is completed and the accused cannot "put pressure" on the witnesses.
The lawyer also asked the court to allow the accused to sit next to the lawyers.
In addition, Namazly requested to exclude from the case the act on the audit of Jafarov signed by staff of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Taxes and the Council on State Support to NGOs, because these people did not have authority to investigate the activities of an individual.
The defense also asked for the conduct of audio and video recording at the trial. However, the prosecutor opposed all these applications.
The court only granted the petition to adduce reports of the defense, rejecting all others.
The hearing on the merits is scheduled for January 27.
* The Coordinator of the advocacy campaign Art for Democracy Rasul Jafarov was arrested on 2 August on charges of illegal business, tax evasion and abuse of office. Later he faced new charges - forgery (313) and misappropriation (179.3.2) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. Amnesty International recognized Jafarov "prisoner of conscience". -06D-
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