Incident

Home page

Incident

Rufat Safarov arrested in courtroom, sentenced to 9 years in jail

08 September 2016 16:42 (UTC +04:00)

Rufat’s lawyer, Bahruz Bayramov, asked the court for ten days for making a defence speech, a request which the court deemed an attempt to delay the time deliberately.

In his speech after the break, the lawyer made a speech, insisting that his defendant is not guilty.

Then Rufat Safarov was given the floor. But he asked for eleven weeks to prepare his speech.

The court declined the petition and gave him 15 minutes for preparing his speech.

After the break, Rufat insisted that he was not ready and again asked for time. The request was deemed by the court as renouncing the speech.

After the break, the court announced the verdict sentencing Rufat to nine years in prison.

Rufat was arrested in the courtroom.

Note that the public prosecutor had sought 10 years for Rufat.

Rufat Safarov, son of the former defense ministry spokesperson, was put in four months’ pretrial detention on January 15 on charges of bribery. His lawyer sought commutation of this sentence to house arrest, which was fulfilled accordingly on January 22.