Former Investigator Tortured in Jail, His Father Asserts

Baku / 04.10.17 / Turan: A former investigator of the Zardab district prosecutor's office Rufat Safarov, now convicted, was thrown into the punishment cell and tortured. This was stated by his father, Eldar Sabiroglu, who visited his son in jail on October 3.

Rufat informed his father that on September 22 he wrote a statement about his intention to start a hunger strike. After that, a group of guards threw him on the floor and handcuffed him. In this state, he was beaten with hands and batons. At the same time, one of the staff of the jail put his foot on Safarov"s head and started to press it.

Then Safarov was taken to the punishment cell and there they locked him in an iron cot, keeping him in this state for three hours.

According to Sabiroglu, these inhuman acts were carried out by order of the deputy head of the prison, Azer Bagirzadeh. "This major threatened Rufat that he would drown his head in the toilet," Sabiroglu said.

However, according to him, despite the cruel torture, his son was not broken.

In turn, the Penitentiary Service denied what Sabiroglu said. The head of the press service, Mehman Sadigov, stated about the "impossibility of torture of Rufat Safarov or anyone else."

As for the custody in the punishment cell, the convict himself or his lawyer can appeal against this decision in court, Sadigov said.

* R. Safarov was an investigator of the Zardab district prosecutor"s office. On December 20, 2015, having spread a protest against lawlessness in law enforcement agencies, he resigned. In late December of the same year, a criminal case was launched against Safarov on charges of taking bribes. In September 2016, by the verdict of the Lankaran Court for Grave Crimes, Safarov was imprisoned for nine years. R.Safarov is the son of the former MP from the NAP, the former head of the press service of the Defense Ministry Eldar Sabiroglu. -06D--