Activist Nijad Ibrahim sentenced to prison term

A Baku court sentenced activist Nijad Ibrahim to 6.5 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty, and his defense intends to appeal the verdict.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, on September 6, 2024, border guards did not allow government critic Nijad Ibrahim to leave Azerbaijan, citing a police ban. After publicly criticizing the police for an unjustified travel ban, Ibrahim was subjected to criminal prosecution: he was charged with intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm in a generally dangerous manner for hooligan motives and hooliganism with the use of a weapon, which carries a sentence of up to 11 years in prison. Ibrahim denies all charges and believes that he is being persecuted for criticizing the authorities. On January 13, he injured himself in the courtroom as a sign of protest and required medical attention. On January 21, the court refused to release the activist under house arrest despite his complaints of serious health problems. The body of the victim, who claims that Nijad Ibrahim stabbed him several times, has no traces of wounds.

The trial of Ibrahim ended today in the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, his lawyer Zibeyda Sadigova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. According to her, the prosecutor requested nine years of imprisonment for the activist.

"Nijad Ibrahim said in his final statement that he did not wound anyone with a knife. He said that they were taking revenge on him for critical posts on social networks. Nijad Ibrahim shouted in his heart that he wanted to leave the country altogether, but they did not let him do that either. Indeed, after his release in the previous case, Ibrahim was unreasonably not allowed to leave the country. He was not allowed to leave even after we presented a court decision on the absence of an official ban on his leaving. He was trying to finally be given the opportunity to go to Moldova to his family, and he had no reason to fight with anyone. "That is, this alleged crime does not even have a motive," Sadygova said.

According to her, the defense also asked to acquit Ibrahim. "There is not a single credible proof that Ibrahim caused injury to the victim. At the trial, we insisted on examining the victim's body. And there was not a single trace of injury visible on his body - not a scar, not a scratch, nothing. This was recorded by the CCTV camera in the courtroom. Nevertheless, the court handed down a guilty verdict," the lawyer said.

According to her, the court dropped the charge against Ibrahim under Article 221.3 (hooliganism committed with the use of a weapon), but found him guilty under Article 126.2.4 (intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm in a generally dangerous manner, out of hooligan motives) and sentenced the activist to 6.5 years in prison. The lawyer noted that the defense will appeal the verdict.

The victim Bahman Aliyev and the prosecution were unavailable for comment. An employee of the Baku Court of Grave Crimes confirmed the information about Ibrahim's verdict to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

* the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.