Judge raises doubts on charge against Flynn partner
By JOSH GERSTEIN 06/28/2019 08:25 PM EDT
A federal judge raised repeated doubts Friday about the validity of a criminal charge the former business partner of Gen. Michael Flynn is facing in connection with a lobbying and public relations campaign Flynn has admitted was secretly mounted on behalf of the Turkish government.
Lawyers for Bijan Rafiekian, who is known as Bijan Kian, argued at a court hearing that the indictment filed against him last December and updated last month was legally faulty because it didn’t address whether the lobbying and op-ed writing Flynn International Group allegedly did for Turkey was a “legal commercial transaction.”
The argument is a technical one, but it could have major ramifications for the case against Kian, which is set to go to trial July 15.
Prosecutors say Kian is free to seek to defend himself by claiming the work was entirely legal, but Kian’s lawyers say making him prove that reverses the typical burden of proof where prosecutors must prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
“That is not the way this is supposed to work,” defense attorney James Tysse said during the nearly two-hour hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. ”It should be the government’s burden not ours. ... The defendant shouldn’t have to prove his innocence.”
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https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2019/06/28/bijan-kian-michael-flynn-1390390