BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 2. The charge brought against Azerbaijani citizen, Farid Safarli, who is under arrest in Iran, has been changed, Head of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Press Secretary Aykhan Hajizada, Trend reports.
Farid Safarli, a student of the University of Jena in Germany, born in 1997, went to Iran on February 20 this year, and since March 4, there has been no news from him. Later it was reported that he was arrested in Iran.
According to Hajizada, the charge of "espionage" brought against Farid Safarli during the court session on July 19 was replaced by the charge of "intent to commit espionage". Currently, work is underway so that Safarli's parents can visit him.
"After repeated appeals to the Iranian side regarding the organization of work to protect the rights of our citizen, in accordance with Iranian law and the requirements of the judicial process, information about several lawyers from the Iranian side was presented to the family of Farid Safarli by our Consulate General in Tabriz. The involvement of a lawyer living in Azerbaijan in the process is not provided for by Iranian legislation," he said.
He noted that contact with both Safarli and his family has been maintained. The Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Tabriz held meetings with Safarli, and the detained has a chance to contact his parents by phone.
"In addition, despite the fact that a request was addressed to the Iranian side about the dates of court sessions and the participation of employees of our Consulate General in the meetings, Iran did not respond to the requests, and therefore participation in these court sessions was not impossible. Also, despite our appeals, the accused was not provided with an interpreter," Hajizada said.