Azerbaijani activist detained after distributing pamphlets about violent death of teenager

Activist Nijat Amiraslanov has been given 15 days of administrative detention on charges of minor hooliganism after helping schoolchildren distribute pamphlets about the suspicious death of 18-year-old student Elgun Ibrahimov in Ganja.

Ibrahimov died on 13 May after being found severely injured in the yard of the Technical University’s abandoned dormitory the day prior. His death sparked outcry in Azerbaijan, with many criticising the authorities for their handling of the case. While a criminal case was opened, the fact that the perpetrators have not yet been found has drawn criticism on social media.

Calls for accountability after violent death of 18-year-old Azerbaijani student

Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office and Interior Ministry have urged the public ‘not to disseminate unsubstantiated and unverified information’.

OC MediaAytan Farhadova

Amiraslanov's relatives told OC Media that prior to his arrest, the activist met with schoolchildren in Gazakh and decided to help them distribute pamphlets about Ibrahimov's death in various places. His relatives suggested that he might have been detained due to his writing about issues faced in the Gazakh region of Azerbaijan.

Amiraslanov was previously briefly detained in June 2024 and reportedly tortured in police custody after a former journalist, Shirin Abbasov (Tire), whom he had helped flee the country, returned and turned him in.

‘Each time he was brutally beaten by the police, but this time we know that he was not beaten. He was taken in a police car and without handcuffs to the court, and by the decision of the judge, he was arrested for 15 days. And we sent him the necessary things, such as clothes and food, and so far we have not been able to talk to him’, his relatives said.

In 2017, Amiraslanov was placed under 30 days of administrative arrest for resisting police. His lawyer, Elchin Sadigov, stated that his client was tortured in custody, causing him to lose his teeth.

Azerbaijani activist reportedly detained and tortured after ‘betrayal’ by former journalist

An Azerbaijani activist has said he was detained and tortured by the authorities after a former journalist who he had helped to escape from the country returned and turned him in. Nijat Amiraslanov, a member of the pro-democracy NIDA movement, was reportedly abducted from his home on Sunday, tortured, and then released the following day. Amiraslanov told OC Media that he was detained after a former Azerbaijani journalist, Shirin (Tire) Abbasov, returned to Azerbaijan and testified that he ha

OC MediaAytan Farhadova