Date of Birth:20 March 1980
Detained Since: 14 March 2025
Affiliation: Chairman, Institute for Citizens’ Rights; human rights defender and civic activist

Charges:

• Legalisation of criminally obtained property (Criminal Code, Art. 193-1.3.2)

• Abuse of official powers resulting in grave consequences or aimed at influencing elections (Art. 308.2)

• Official forgery (Art. 313)

Legal Status:
Bashir Suleymanli is a remand prisoner. On 14 March 2025, the Baku Binagadi District Court ordered nearly four months of pre-trial detention. Appeals were dismissed. On 9 July 2025, his detention was extended for an additional three months. He remains in custody awaiting trial.

Political Prisoner Status:

His case satisfies criteria (a) and (e) of PACE Resolution 1900 (2012):

• (a) – violations of the ECHR: liberty and security (Art. 5), fair trial (Art. 6), freedom of association (Art. 11), and freedom of expression (Art. 10).

• (e) – detention pursued for ulterior political motives, in reprisal for his longstanding human rights work, independent election monitoring, and civic education activities.

Summary:

Bashir Suleymanli is a prominent Azerbaijani human rights defender and longtime civic leader, known for advancing democratic participation, free elections, access to justice, and civic education. As founder and chair of the Institute for Citizens’ Rights and former executive director of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDSC), he has played a central role in election monitoring and public accountability initiatives for nearly two decades.

He has previously been targeted: in 2014, after EMDSC’s election monitoring work, he was imprisoned on fabricated charges. In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights held that the dissolution of EMDSC violated the Convention, confirming that the organisation had been persecuted for its civic engagement.

In March 2025, Suleymanli was arrested again in a new wave of repression against NGOs, journalists, lawyers, and civic leaders. He was charged with financial crimes allegedly linked to grant implementation and administrative documents. These accusations mirror the patterns of earlier politically motivated cases that weaponise financial regulations against civil society. Several other NGO leaders were concurrently arrested under similar allegations, indicating coordinated targeting within a single “NGO case” framework.

No independently verifiable evidence has been presented to substantiate the charges. The pre-trial detention orders rely on generic assertions rather than specific facts, and judicial review has consisted of formulaic endorsements of the prosecution’s claims. The case reflects the ongoing deterioration of civic space following the 2021 Law on Media and the 2022 Law on Political Parties, both criticised by the Venice Commission for severely restricting freedom of association.

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