Lawyer: Court Deliberately Delays Issuance of Text of Sentence on Rufat Safarov to Defense

Baku / 20.09.16 / Turan: The lawyer of the former investigator of the Zardab District Prosecutor's Office, Rufat Safarov, Behruz Bayramov, reported on the undue delay in issuing him the text of the sentence on his client’s case.

As Bayramov told Turan, the verdict has to be issued to the defense within 3 days. ‘But after 11 days, I still cannot get the text from the Lankaran Court of Grave Crimes,’ said the lawyer.

His appeals in this regard to the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Council were in vain.

The lawyer said the court does not issue the text of the sentence deliberately so that the defense would not meet the 20-day deadline for filing an appeal.

However, in anticipation of such a turn, the lawyer filed a primary complaint with the Shirvan Court of Appeal. After receiving the text of the sentence he would send an additional appeal.

Recall that Safarov is the son of a former member of parliament and one of the founders of the ruling party New Azerbaijan, Eldar Sabiroglu, who last year publicly criticized the head of the Presidential Administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev.

In December Safarov publicly criticized the authorities for violations of the law and the poor performance of law enforcement, and announced his retirement from the prosecution. In turn, prosecutors reported on the dismissal of Safarov ‘for improper conduct.’ -06B--