Court Review: June 18–19, 2026

Court proceedings involving politicians, civil society representatives, and journalists

1. On June 18, the next hearing was held at the Baku Serious Crimes Court in the case of Bashir Suleymanli, head of the Institute for Civil Rights, who was arrested in connection with the so-called “NGO case.”

During the hearing, presided over by Judge Vugar Seyidov, the court предложил the defense to have the testimonies of witnesses who had not yet been questioned formally announced.

B. Suleymanli agreed, but also filed a motion requesting the questioning of Mehriban Rahimli, former Azerbaijan adviser to the U.S.-based German Marshall Fund (GMF), as an additional witness.

The court granted the motion and ruled that the witness statements would be considered announced, while M. Rahimli would be questioned as an additional witness.

The next hearing is scheduled for July 9.

2. On June 18, the Baku Court of Appeal reviewed a complaint against the decision of the Binagadi District Court to impose pretrial detention on Afghan Sadigov, head of the azel.tv website.

The court rejected the appeal and upheld the lower court’s ruling.

A. Sadigov was arrested on June 9. He is accused of extortion by threat.

Although the criminal case under this charge was initially launched in 2024, it was terminated in April this year.

Sadigov was deported from Georgia to Azerbaijan in April.

Later, the Prosecutor General’s Office overturned the decision to terminate the case and brought charges against him again.

3. On June 18, a preliminary hearing was held at the Baku Serious Crimes Court under Judge Mahira Karimova in the criminal case of former lawyer Namizad Safarov.

At the hearing, the legal expert stated that the fraud charges brought against him were entirely fabricated.

He stressed that he neither knew the woman who claimed he had misappropriated 53,000 manats under the pretext of arranging employment, nor had he ever received any money from her.

According to him, there is no evidence in the case — neither phone calls nor correspondence.

He particularly emphasized that he is being punished for his political activities and critical statements.

During the hearing, the defense filed a motion to terminate the criminal proceedings against Safarov.

The lawyers pointed out that the complaint filed against N. Safarov through the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ “102” hotline was registered several hours after his detention.

The defense argued that this fact itself proves that Safarov’s arrest had been pre-planned.

The lawyers also filed a motion requesting that N. Safarov be transferred to house arrest.

The court rejected all motions.

The next hearing is scheduled for July 2.

Court proceedings related to corruption and state institutions

1. On June 18, the Supreme Court, chaired by Judge Ilgar Giliyov, held a cassation hearing on the case of Dayanat Gudratov and Azer Mammadov, convicted of carrying out an armed attack on the “Bravo” hypermarket in Baku.

During the hearing, it became known that Azer Mammadov had withdrawn his cassation appeal.

According to the court’s ruling, Dayanat Gudratov’s appeal was rejected, and the lower court’s decision was upheld.

Under the verdict of the Baku Serious Crimes Court:

• Dayanat Gudratov was sentenced to life imprisonment;
• Azer Mammadov and Ibrahim Ibrahimov received 19 years each;
• Sabuhi Gurbanov was sentenced to 18 years and 6 months;
• Rovshan Ismayilov received 4 years, 11 months, and 28 days;
• Babek Isgandarov was sentenced to 3 years, 5 months, and 28 days.

The Baku Court of Appeal had previously upheld the verdict without changes.

Court proceedings involving foreign nationals

1. On June 19, the Baku Serious Crimes Court, presided over by Judge Firdovsi Aliyev, announced verdicts for Russian citizens arrested in Azerbaijan.

In their final statements, the defendants pleaded not guilty and asked the court to issue acquittals.

Under the court’s ruling:

• Sergey Sofronov, Anton Drachev, Dmitry Bezugly, and Valery Dulov were sentenced to 4 years in prison;
• Dmitry Fedorov, Boris Timoshov, Aleksey Vasilchenko, and Ilya Bezugly were sentenced to 3 years.

Initially, they were charged under Articles 234.4.1 (drug trafficking committed by an organized group or by prior conspiracy) and 234.4.3 (committed on a large scale) of the Criminal Code.

However, the court reclassified the charges and convicted them under Article 234.1-1.

All eight were arrested on July 1 last year.

2. On June 18, another hearing was held at the Baku Serious Crimes Court under Judge Farid Namazov in the criminal case of Russian citizen Kamal Isayev.

At the hearing, the state prosecutor continued reading the indictment, referring to social media posts written by K. Isayev over the years.

In one of the cited posts, the activist allegedly wrote that “one day the Talysh will come to power in Azerbaijan and put an end to injustice.”

The prosecutor also claimed that K. Isayev had described himself as the “Minister of Culture” of the so-called “Talysh-Mughan Republic.”

K. Isayev denied these accusations, stating that he had never supported the creation of any Talysh state and that the claim about self-appointing himself as minister was false.

According to him, he had only been assigned to oversee cultural matters in a WhatsApp group.

He added that he does not consider himself guilty.

The next hearing is scheduled for July 29.

Kamal Isayev, who had been living in Russia, was detained in Turkey last November while traveling and later extradited to Azerbaijan.

He operated YouTube channels under the names “Jahid Kamal” and “Arya Toloş.”

K. Isayev is charged under Articles 281.2 (public calls against the state committed by a group), 281-1.2 (distribution of symbols and attributes aimed at violating Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity by a group), and 283.2.1 (incitement of national, racial, social, or religious hatred with the use or threat of violence) of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code.