Azerbaijani Human Rights Defender Rufat Safarov Stands Firm as Trial Concludes

The trial of Rufat Safarov, a known human rights defender from Azerbaijan ended at the Baku Grave Crimes Court on May 4. Rufat Safarov has been in jail for a year and a half. He is the director of the "Line of Defense" organization. Rufat Safarov faces charges that he and others say are not fair.

The judge, Aygun Gurbanova was in charge of the hearing. Rufat Safarov made a statement during the hearing. He could go to prison for up to 10 years. The charges against him are large-scale fraud hurting someone on purpose and hooliganism. The people who are against him say he cheated a man named Natig Imanguliyev out of 60,000 AZN. They say he told Natig Imanguliyev he would sell him some land. He did not. They also say Rufat Safarov hurt Natig Imanguliyev during a fight in a garage.

Rufat Safarov says these things are not true. He says he never met Natig Imanguliyev before he went to jail. Rufat Safarov was arrested on December 3 2024. His lawyer, Rovshana Rahimova asked the court to get some information from a network. This is because the other side said something that does not make sense. They said Natig Imanguliyev went to a doctor. He told the court he did not go to that doctor. The court said they would get the information to figure out where Natig Imanguliyev was when he got hurt.

Rufat Safarov talked to the court on World Press Freedom Day. He wanted to honor the journalists who're in jail in Azerbaijan. Rufat Safarov said it is funny that the government is trying to stop people from speaking but they cannot stop all of them. He said Azerbaijan has a lot of journalists in jail. This is according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Rufat Safarov said he is one of 400 people in Azerbaijan who are in jail for political reasons. He said this is something to be proud of. Rufat Safarov has been in trouble with the law before. He was convicted in 2015. He said he is not sorry about what he did. Rufat Safarov told the court "I am not a masochist but I am proud to be one of the prisoners in this country because the current administration is unlawful and anti-democratic."

A lot of people in countries are watching what is happening to Rufat Safarov. In 2024 the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave Rufat Safarov a human rights award. Rufat Safarov could not be there so they put the award on a chair. With all the attention the people in charge in Azerbaijan say there are no political prisoners. They say everyone in jail broke the law.

The court will meet again on May 18. The prosecutor will ask for a sentence, for Rufat Safarov then.