{"id":80669,"date":"2026-06-12T12:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/azerbaijani-court-gives-rights-activist-8-year-prison-term\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T12:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:24:22","slug":"azerbaijani-court-gives-rights-activist-8-year-prison-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/azerbaijani-court-gives-rights-activist-8-year-prison-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Azerbaijani Court Gives Rights Activist 8-Year Prison Term"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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BAKU, June 12 – An Azerbaijani court has handed down an eight-year prison sentence to a well-known rights activist following his conviction on charges of hooliganism and fraud, in what his attorney characterizes as a politically driven prosecution.<\/p>

Rufat Safarov, the activist in question, previously worked as a prosecutor and currently leads the advocacy organization Defense Line. His background includes a three-year imprisonment for bribery charges before receiving a presidential pardon from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in 2019.<\/p>

Attorney Rovshana Rahimova, representing Safarov, informed Reuters of her disagreement with the court’s decision and confirmed plans to file an appeal.<\/p>

The oil-rich nation has faced mounting Western condemnation regarding its treatment of human rights following multiple detentions of independent media figures and political opposition members in recent times.<\/p>

Azerbaijani officials dismiss such criticism and characterize Western diplomatic demands for prisoner releases as unwarranted meddling in their country’s legal proceedings.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Azerbaijani court has handed down an eight-year prison sentence to rights activist Rufat Safarov on hooliganism and fraud charges. His attorney claims the case is politically motivated and plans to appeal the conviction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":80668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[832],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/news-1781281461952.png?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbtNqq-kZ7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21268,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/armenian-billionaire-banker-receives-20-year-prison-term-in-azerbaijan\/","url_meta":{"origin":80669,"position":0},"title":"Armenian Billionaire Banker Receives 20-Year Prison Term in Azerbaijan","author":"Admin","date":"February 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"An Armenian-born billionaire who previously worked in banking was handed a two-decade prison sentence by an Azerbaijani court. 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