The charges for all five articles of the human rights activist Rasul Jafarov have no legal grounds and his actions did not constitute a crime. This was stated by human rights lawyer Fariz Namazly today during the hearing of Jafarov’s appeal in the Supreme Court.
So, Jafarov as an individual paid tax on the implementation of grant contract projects.
In doing so, funds that Jafarov received in the form of cash bonuses and travel expenses were also considered as grants.
In addition, the trial court did not exclude as inadmissible evidence the acts of the screening committee from among the representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Taxes and of the Council of State Support to NGOs, because they had no authority to conduct audits of Jafarov projects.
The investigation qualified as an illegal business Jafarov’s management of the Club of Human Rights, which had no state registration.
According to the charges, Jafarov, thus unlawfully implemented grants and received income.
In fact, the Azerbaijani legislation does not prohibit the activities of NGOs without state registration. This was stated by the Government of Azerbaijan in the case "Ismayilov against Azerbaijan at the ECHR" and by the head of the Council of State Support to NGOs Azay Guliyev.
On the other hand, all the recognized victims in court said they did not consider themselves as such, and got all the means entitled for the implementation of the work.
In addition, the donors in official letters confirmed the absence of claims to Jafarov.
In addition, many applications from the defense were not satisfied by lower courts. Jafarov also said the accusations were unfounded.
At the same time, he stressed that all operations are carried out transparently by grants through the banking system.
He noted that the law allowed him as the leader of an unregistered NGO to implement grant projects. The law did not require registration of individual grants.
When in early 2014 the new law entered into force, Jafarov began to implement projects through NGOs with state registration.
He said that in relation to him a biased and political approach was shown. Jafarov called the court to render a fair verdict of acquittal.
The judge Farhad Kerimov asked why his trips were paid for by donors and where is the proof that Jafarov was really on mission. To the judge it seemed amazing, and he said his trips would hardly be paid for in this form.
In response, Jafarov told the judge that if he was an activist of the NGO, his travel would be financed by donors.
Jafarov said that he provided evidence of his participation in international conferences. "At the OSCE conference on freedom of the media there were representatives of 50 states. How could they deny my participation there?" said Jafarov.
The prosecutor offered to leave but the Court of Appeal decision in force.
The judges after a brief meeting upheld the decision of the court.
The defense intends to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.
According to Jafarov, the communication on the first complaint about the illegal arrest has been completed. -06C--
2016 February 16 (Tuesday) 12:10:31
The Supreme Court today dismissed the cassation complaint of the human rights activist Rasul Jafarov. The judge Farhad Kerimov upheld the Court of Appeal's decision, Turan reported from the courtroom. According to him, Rasul Jafarov was present at the trial.
On July 31, 2014 the Baku Court of Appeal changed the verdict against Rasul Jafarov, clearing him of charges of tax evasion after the due payment. Then, the court reduced the sentence by three months - to 6 years and 3 months.
Rasul Jafarov was arrested on 2 August 2014 on charges of illegal business, tax evasion and abuse of office. Jafarov denied the allegations, calling his arrest a political order. Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience.
Official Baku has ignored calls by the Council of Europe and many other international organizations that have repeatedly demanded the release of Jafarov and other political prisoners. -16 / 06D-
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