Azerbaijan has extradited Uzbek national Amonbek Yusupov, who is accused of insulting the country’s president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Yusupov is suspected of ‘insulting the honor and dignity’ of the president, the Azerbaijani pro-government media outlet APA reported on Thursday.
APA said that Yusupov had been arrested in Azerbaijan in April 2025 after being put on an international wanted list.
It is unclear what Yusupov has specifically been accused of.
Azerbaijan’s Justice Ministry escorted Yusupov back to Uzbekistan, APA said.
The pro-government Uzbek media outlet Zamin wrote that ‘this case once again shows that violations committed by Uzbek citizens abroad will not go unnoticed by the authorities’.
Under Uzbek law, widely recognised as an authoritarian country with limited freedom of speech, particularly concerning criticism of its leaders, insulting the president is a criminal offence that can result in a prison sentence of up to five years if convicted.
Human Rights Watch reported in 2024 that a growing number of individuals have been imprisoned, some on multi-year sentences, for ‘insulting the president online’.
Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan have friendly ties and cooperate on a variety of issues beyond law enforcement. Earlier in 2025, Mirziyoyev met with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, where the two leaders signed a number of agreements on further cooperation.
Xandie (Alexandra) Kuenning
