Prominent Azerbaijani oppositionist arrested, allegedly tortured

Prominent Azerbaijani economist and opposition politician Gubad Ibadoglu has been arrested and allegedly tortured. 

He was detained two weeks after he announced the creation of a study abroad fund for Azerbaijani students which he said would reclaim "money stolen from the Azerbaijani people and economy by the Azerbaijani government."

On July 24, Ibadoglu, who is a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE), was placed in pre-trial detention for a term of three months and 26 days by a Baku court on charges of involvement in the "preparation, acquisition, or sale of counterfeit money or securities by an organized group." If convicted, he faces 8-12 years in prison. Ibadoglu said that the charges against him were "trumped up" and that his arrest was personally ordered by President Ilham Aliyev. 

Ibadoglu was detained a day before, together with his wife Irada Bayramova, by Baku police. Bayramova told media that they had been driving in their car when they were stopped and forcibly detained by plainclothes policemen. They were taken to the Main Department for the Fight against Organized Crime under the Interior Ministry, which has previously faced torture allegations. 

Bayramova, who was freed shortly after with bruises on her legs and shoulders, said that she and her husband were beaten in police custody. She also said that she had been prevented from delivering her husband's medications to him. "Gubad is sick, having to take different medications every day. By not letting him take them, they [authorities] are trying to kill him!" she said. 

On July 23, Turkish media reported that Azerbaijani police had arrested four Azerbaijani citizens in Baku for alleged links to the "Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO)." This is the Turkish government's designation for the movement led by Fetullah Gulen, a dissident Islamic cleric based in the United States who was accused of masterminding the failed Turkish coup of 2016.

The reports added that another unnamed person said to be the leader of a political party was detained separately. (The four were also placed under four-month pre-trial detention on the same charges as Ibadoglu.)  

Hours later, Ibadoglu's detainment was reported, and a search was conducted at his office. The Azerbaijani Interior Ministry told media that he had been identified by Anar Aliyev, one of the four people detained earlier, as a member of "FETO."

Ibadoglu later testified in court that he was not acquainted with Anar Aliyev. 

Ibadoglu's lawyer Zibeyda Sadigova told journalists she was informed by investigators that $40,000 was found in her client's office. Ibadoglu's daughter, Zhala Bayramova, who is herself a rights activist, reported that shortly before the search, her uncle (Gubad's brother) tried to enter the office but failed. "The police broke into the office the night before, planted fake money and changed the lock so as to prevent anyone from entering the office before the search," she asserted. 

Ibadoglu is the founder and chair of the opposition Democracy and Prosperity Party. Earlier, he was a member of another major opposition party, Musavat. He has been known for his criticism of the government, particularly on its handling of the economy, via his Facebook page, interviews with local media, and his YouTube channel Biz TV, which has nearly 64,000 subscribers. Prior to teaching at LSE, Ibadoglu worked at Rutgers University, Princeton University, Duke University, Central European University, and several other higher education institutions abroad and in Azerbaijan. 

On July 11, Ibadoglu announced that he, together with two other opposition politicians - historian Jamil Hasanli and former diplomat Arif Shahmarli - had co-founded and registered a study abroad fund for Azerbaijanis, called the Azerbaijani Youth Educational Foundation (Azerbaijani acronym AGTF), in London. 

"The main goal of AGTF is to provide all kinds of support to knowledgeable and talented young people in studying abroad, as well as to young scientists in presenting the results of their research at international scientific conferences," he wrote on Facebook. "Organizational, advisory, and financial support will be provided. Another goal is to create a pool of human resources for Azerbaijan's future on the basis of AGTF."

What truly raised eyebrows was Ibadoglu's claim that the fund would work with the authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom and the EU in order to secure the confiscation of money that corrupt Azerbaijani officials had "stolen from the Azerbaijani people and economy" and stashed in foreign bank accounts. 

He said these monies would be redirected into the AGTF (but did not elaborate on how he envisaged that happening). 

"This issue - treasures that were taken out of the country and their security - is the most sensitive, most taboo topic for the government," one education expert, Rashad Aliyev, wrote, alleging that Ibadoglu's intention to work toward the confiscation of these funds was the sole reason for his arrest.