Azerbaijan: Arbitrary detention and judicial harassment against Rufat Safarov

The Observatory has been informed about the arbitrary arrest and detention of Mr Rufat Safarov, a prominent human rights defender and founder of the organisation Defence Line, dedicated to the monitoring and promotion of human rights and rule of law in Azerbaijan.

On 3 December 2024, Rufat Safarov was returning home, in the Binagadi District of Baku, when he was violently approached by an individual in civilian clothes and then arrested by police officers. His arrest was carried out based on the authorities’ claim that Mr Safarov was a suspect in a dispute related to the sale of a land plot involving his parents and a third party who had lodged a complaint against him.

On 4 December 2024, the Binagadi District Police Department charged him under Articles 178.3.2 (“fraud involving major damage”), 221.1 (“hooliganism”), and 127.2.3 (“intentional infliction of less serious harm to health”) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. If convicted on these charges, Mr Safarov could face up to 10 years in prison.

Later that day, the Binagadi District Court, presided over by Judge Aytekin Ibrahimova, ordered Rufat Safarov preventive detention for four months. According to Mr Safarov’s lawyer, no evidence was presented to the court regarding the charges against him, and the petition they filed requesting house arrest instead of preventive detention was denied by the court. Mr Safarov was then transferred to the Baku Pre-Trial Detention Facility, located in the Zabrat settlement of the Sabunchu District, commonly known as Bakı İstintaq Təcridxanası (Baku Investigation Isolator).

On 6 December 2024, Mr Safarov’s lawyers submitted an appeal complaint. On 11 December, the Baku Appeal Court announced the dismissal of the appeal and upheld the decision of the Binagadi District Court ordering four months of pre-trial detention.

The arrest of Rufat Safarov appears to be politically motivated and is widely regarded as an act of retaliation against his human rights work. Mr Safarov’s arrest happened just after visiting the U.S. Embassy in Baku to receive his visa to travel to the United States for the reception of the U.S. secretary of state’s 2024 Human Rights Defender Award, which had to be given to him in absentia on 6 December.

The Observatory recalls that Mr Safarov was previously arrested in 2015 following his public resignation from the District Prosecutor’s Officer of Zardab, where he used to be an investigator, and his open criticism of the Azerbaijani government. He was sentenced to nine years in prison on seemingly unfair charges, justified under Article 311.3.2 of the Criminal Code (“repeated bribery”), but received a presidential pardon, leading to his release in 2019.

The Observatory strongly condemns the arrest, arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Mr Safarov and considers these actions a blatant attempt to silence leading voices for human rights, justice and accountability in Azerbaijan.

The Observatory urges the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr Safarov and to drop all charges against him, as they appear to be directly linked to his legitimate human rights activities.

The Observatory further calls on Azerbaijani authorities to guarantee, in all circumstances, Mr Safarov’s physical and psychological integrity while in detention and to end all forms of harassment, including at the judicial level, against him and all other human rights defenders in the country.