Rasul Jafarov urges court to acquit him

On the trial of the Azerbaijani human rights activist Rasul Jafarov on Wednesday, he made a closing statement. The human rights activist said that he would not touch the essence of the charges in detail, as the lawyers thoroughly presented the position of the defenсe.

However, Jafarov commented the prosecutor’s statement on why Jafarov did not present all the available documents to the court. In particular, he provided all the investigation documents until he was arrested. After his arrest, he presented the other documents to the court. "It's not just letters from donors, according to the prosecutor. We submitted documents confirming the execution of projects," said Jafarov.

He called groundless the allegations of the prosecutor that the victims refused to testify against Jafarov because they are his friends. Of the five victims only Ahmed Heybatov is a friend of Jafarov, because they went to school together. He got acquainted with all the others during the project implementation.

As Jafarov stressed, he encountered great injustice and unjustified arrest, but he does not keep evil on anyone. But he merely wants to have his rights restored. In conclusion, he urged the court to acquit him.

The judge Eldar Ismayilov declared that the court would consider the sentence that would be read tomorrow. But he did not tell the exact time.

Recall that the prosecutor asked to sentence Jafarov to 9 years of prison.

Arrested on Aug. 2, 2014 on charges of illegal business, tax evasion and abuse of office, Jafarov was later accused of embezzlement and forgery. Amnesty International announced him a prisoner of conscience.

Source: http://www.contact.az