On 11 February, in Baku Grave Crimes Court, a prosecutor requested a staggering 13-year prison sentence against prominent political analyst and civil society leader Azer Gasimli. The prosecutor’s demand is not merely excessive but emblematic of a highly repressive system that routinely uses criminal legislation as a weapon to silence its peaceful critics. Gasimli is accused of extortion, a charge that he flatly rejects, and believes that his imprisonment is related to his social and political activities. Arrested in December 2024, his final hearing is scheduled for 25 February 2026.
Gasimli, director of the Institute of Political Management, is a prominent political expert and peaceful critic of government’s political and economic policies. Widely regarded as one of the respected public faces of Azerbaijan’s political opposition and independent civic thought, he has trained, mentored and provided guidance a new generation of young activists and emerging political leaders on democratic governance, civic participation, and public policy. As a regular media commentator, he has offered analysis of government policies and regional geopolitics, often criticizing the government-led repression and other authoritarian practices from a firmly democratic and peaceful perspective.
“A 13-year prison sentence for a peaceful government critic is a blatant act of political revenge. It is the calculated destruction of a young man’s life to warn others to stay silent. Targeting Azer Gasimli with such harsh prison sentence undermines not only a bright individual, but the future of independent civic leadership in Azerbaijan,” said NHC Secretary General Berit Lindeman. “Such sentence exposes a system that fears criticism and independent thinking. And no matter what legalistic pretexts the authorities are using to lock up Gasimli, there is no shadow of a doubt that mr Gasimli is in fact victim of a government’s vicious repression.”
Gasimli’s trial has been marred by grave due process violations, including the arbitrary rejection of defense motions and the absence of any reasonable and credible evidence against him. The alleged victim gave many contradictory statements in the trial process, yet the court refused to challenge these inconsistencies. According to his lawyers, the court appeared to guide the alleged victim toward statements that would aggravate the accusations against Gasimli.
Gasimli’s arrest is not an isolated event but part of a broader pattern of increasing repression in Azerbaijan. In the past three years, the Azerbaijan authorities have been relentlessly harassing, intimidating, and throwing behind bars leading human rights defenders, opposition politicians, journalists, and bloggers on politically motivated charges, or driving them into exile and subjecting to arbitrary police interrogations and travel bans. Among those imprisoned are the renowned civil society leaders Akif Gurbanov, Ruslan Izzatli, Alasgar Mammadli, political opposition leaders Ali Karimli, Tofig Yagublu, journalists Hafiz Babali, Ulvi Hasanli, Aynur Elgunesh, Nargiz Absalamova, human rights defender Rufat Safarov, public activist Nazim Baydamirli, and many others. Lengthy prison sentences on fabricated charges are increasingly being used to suppress and intimidate not only the critics but an entire society into silence.
If allowed to stand, this outrageous impending conviction against Gasimli would mean that for over a decade to come Azerbaijan have lost one of its bright intellectuals and respected civil society leaders. Azerbaijan’s international partners should flatly and unanimously condemn this mockery of justice and urge the release of Gasimli and the other activists that the government has thrown behind bars on bogus charges and in stark contempt of its international human rights obligations. Without clear and unequivocal international condemnation, the silence would only embolden further repression.