In Azerbaijan, a wave of arrests described by rights defenders as politically motivated is continuing. On November 29, officers from the State Security Service came to the home of Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan leader Ali Kerimli. According to his deputy Seymur Hazi, the officers planted the so-called letter of Ramiz Mehdiyev in a шкаф during the search and then claimed to have discovered it there.
On December 1, Baku’s Sabail District Court placed Kerimli in pretrial detention for 2.5 months. The same measure was imposed on Mammad Ibrahimli, a member of the party presidium. Both men were charged under Article 278.1 of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, covering actions aimed at the violent seizure or retention of power; the article allows for punishment up to life imprisonment. The case also includes opposition figure Gultekin Hajibeyli, who was detained in Istanbul and is contesting deportation.
A central element of the case is a letter pro-government media attributed to former presidential administration chief Ramiz Mehdiyev. Those reports said he had allegedly proposed to Moscow a scenario for changing power in Azerbaijan, yet the published text did not match that retelling. The document referred to a State Council of 50 members to be elected by nationwide vote, but it did not directly describe a violent coup, a temporary body, or Mehdiyev’s own intention to lead it.
At the same time, no official state body has publicly confirmed any case against Mehdiyev. Journalist Rauf Mirqadirov told Novaya Gazeta Europe that in treason cases the security services normally announce such accusations openly, but that did not happen here. He added that Kerimli “did not fit the uniformity,” while posing no real threat to the regime.
Amnesty International said Kerimli’s arrest showed that the campaign to suppress political opposition and dissent in Azerbaijan “knows no bounds.”
Sources interviewed by the outlet also reject claims that Kerimli was linked either to the authorities or to Moscow. They note that he had faced pressure for years, complained that he was denied a passport, and, according to sources, had in recent years effectively been cut off from internet access. A Baku journalist and opposition journalist Javid Aga said the timing of the arrest may have been connected to Kerimli’s more active appearances in Western media.