Azerbaijani authorities have intensified their long-running crackdown on the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, building on years of politically motivated prosecutions and intimidation. In recent months, authorities have increasingly targeted the party’s leadership.
On December 19, a court sentenced Murad Sultan, a senior party official, to 30 days of administrative detention. This followed the November 29 court order that placed the party chair, Ali Karimli, in pretrial detention on charges of attempting to violently seize power. Authorities have also detained several of his bodyguards and his driver. Karimli has faced a travel ban since 2005.
In 2025, Azerbaijani authorities sharply escalated their campaign against the Popular Front Party, arbitrarily arresting and detaining dozens of party members across the country, pursuing spurious administrative and criminal charges, and subjecting the party leadership and members to other forms of harassment. Police and courts relied on vague and widely abused misdemeanor charges of “petty hooliganism” and “disobeying police orders,” or brought criminal charges that party members assert were fabricated. Party officials report that at least 20 members are currently imprisoned.
Concerns about the crackdown deepened after imprisoned party member Elbeyi Kerimli, 22, died by apparent suicide on December 12. Authorities had arrested him in August 2023 after he painted “Stalin” on a statue of former president Heydar Aliyev, who died in 2003, and later charged him with large-scale drug possession. Authorities announced an investigation into Kerimli’s death but have not made its findings public.
On December 13, a Baku court ordered three months of pretrial detention for party member Vugar Gadirov on weapons possession charges.
In April, a court sentenced Mehman Aliyev, a party member, to five years in prison on spurious drug-related charges. Aliyev said authorities brought the charges in retaliation for his filming and publishing footage of alleged police abuse.
Throughout 2025, police detained activists in Binagadi, Yevlakh, Ordubad, Lankaran, and other regions after summoning them to police stations and rushing them through court hearings, often holding them incommunicado for several days.
Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release all individuals detained solely for peaceful political activity, lift restrictions on political opposition, including the 20-year travel ban on Ali Karimli, and ensure independent and impartial investigations into allegations of abuse and deaths in custody.
