Activists demanded the release of Anar Mammadli

Azerbaijani human rights activist Anar Mammadli has been in custody for nearly two years on fabricated charges, activists said. They called for all charges against him to be dropped and his release.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, on September 22, 2025, at a court hearing in Baku, Anar Mammadli, head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC), delivered a defense speech. He pointed out to the court the political nature of his criminal prosecution and compared it to Soviet-era repression.

Activists in the international campaign to end repression in Azerbaijan have called for the human rights defender's release on the eve of the second anniversary of Anar Mammadli's arrest.

"April 29, 2026, marks exactly two years since the arbitrary detention of Anar Mammadli, a prominent human rights defender and the head of Azerbaijan's only independent election observation organization, by Azerbaijani authorities. On this occasion, the Campaign to End Repression in Azerbaijan issues a global call for his immediate and unconditional release,” the campaign said in a statement received by the Caucasian Knot correspondent.

The two-year criminal prosecution of Mammadli has become a "mockery of justice," the authors of the statement believe.

He is being held on trumped-up charges, which have changed over time.

"He is being held on "The charges against them have been fabricated and have evolved over time, from smuggling to illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering, tax evasion, and document forgery," the document emphasizes.

The case of Anar Mammadli is a telling example of repression in Azerbaijan, activists stated. "All the methods used against him – fabricated charges, prolonged pretrial detention, denial of fair trial standards, smear campaigns, and solitary confinement – ​​have been used against hundreds of others," the statement noted.

Activists called on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to "order the immediate and unconditional release of Anar Mammadli, drop all charges, and put an end to the persecution of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, civil society activists, and academics."

They also called on "Azerbaijan's international partners, especially the European Union and the Council of Europe, to make Mammadli's release, along with the release of all other political prisoners, a precondition for cooperation."

Mammadli's defense called the prosecution's case unproven

Mammadli's lawyer Elchin Sadigov told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent today that the judicial investigation into the activist's case is ongoing.

According to the defense, the prosecution has not presented any credible evidence of Mammadli's guilt.

Furthermore, the lawyer noted, Mammadli is deprived of access to quality medical care and, in particular, to examination in a specialized civilian clinic, despite serious health problems.

As a reminder, in December 2025, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association and Assembly, Gina Romero, contacted the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan in connection with criminal prosecution of Anar Mammadli. She demanded Mammadli's immediate release from custody, immediate medical care, the dropping of all criminal charges related to his civil society activities, and compensation.

In 2013, Anar Mammadli was arrested and convicted on charges whose political motivation was confirmed by a 2018 ECHR ruling. In October 2025, Mammadli appealed to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. He pointed out that the failure to implement the ECHR ruling on the need to acquit him in a previous criminal case allowed security forces to bring more serious charges against him.