Date of Birth:  31 March 1975
Detained Since: 8 December 2024
Affiliation: Unaffiliated politician; former Deputy Chair of REAL (Republican Alternative); Director and co-founder, Institute of Political Management

Charges:

• Extortion – demanding another person’s property, rights to property, or acts of a proprietary nature by threatening violence, dissemination of defamatory information, or destruction/damage of property, committed for the purpose of obtaining property in a large amount (Criminal Code, Art. 182.3.2).

Legal Status:

• Status: Remand (pre-trial) political prisoner
• Detention timeline:

  • 8 December 2024 – taken into custody by Baku Yasamal District Police Department.

  • 9 December 2024 – Yasamal District Court orders 4 months of pre-trial detention; upheld on appeal.

  • 15 January 2025 – request to replace detention with house arrest rejected; rejection upheld on 21 January 2025.

  • 3 April 2025 – pre-trial detention extended for 2 additional months; extension upheld on appeal.

Political Prisoner Status:

The proceedings against Azer Gasimli meet criteria (a) and (e) of PACE Resolution 1900 (2012):

• (a) – his detention violates rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of association, liberty and security, and fair trial guarantees.

• (e) – the prosecution is driven by ulterior political motives, aiming to remove a prominent opposition-linked figure and civic educator from public life.

Summary:

Azer Gasimli is a well-known Azerbaijani politician, political analyst, and civic educator. As Director of the Institute of Political Management and former senior leader of the REAL opposition-affiliated party, he has played a visible role in promoting democratic governance, political pluralism, and civic participation. Through teaching, public lectures, media commentary, and training programmes, he has sought to build a new generation of politically informed and engaged citizens.

In late 2024, against a backdrop of intensified repression of civil society and opposition voices, the authorities moved against him. In November 2024 he was stopped at Baku International Airport, informed of an internal travel ban, and questioned as a witness, which he publicly described as political pressure. On 8 December 2024 he was detained and, the next day, placed in pre-trial detention on suspicion of large-scale extortion. The accusation rests essentially on a single complainant’s statement alleging threats and demands for money.

Gasimli has consistently denied the charges, stating that they are fabricated in retaliation for his political activities and public criticism of the authorities. His case emerged in the same restrictive climate shaped by the 2021 Law on Media and the 2022 Law on Political Parties, both criticised for curtailing fundamental freedoms, and mirrors broader patterns of targeting independent civil society leaders, journalists, and opposition-linked figures on spurious criminal grounds.

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