Azerbaijani teen sentenced to 7.5 years in prison over road accident that killed three children
A teenager who was accused of causing a traffic accident that took the lives of three schoolchildren in the town of Yalavaj in Imishli has been sentenced to seven years and six months in prison. The three girls were killed after a traffic police car hit them while swerving out of the way of a u-turning car in January 2025.
The accident caused the deaths of sixth-grade student Zumrud Miraliyeva and fourth-grade students Ayan Mammadova and Mahbuba Alizada.
Lankaran District Court of Grave Crimes sentenced Baylar Bayramli, 17, after finding him guilty of driving without a license, violating traffic laws resulting in the deaths of three people, and fleeing the scene of an accident. RFE/RL reported the sentencing on 28 November.
During the court process, Bayramli stated that he had borrowed his uncle's car and that he regretted his actions. He denied the charge of fleeing the scene of an accident, while also testifying that the traffic police officer involved in the accident, Ulvi Ahmadov, had been driving at a very high speed.
Bayramli noted that when he wanted to turn left at the intersection, the police car was very far away. Therefore, he thought he could easily make the turn. He also emphasised that Ahmadov had more opportunity to see him in advance, assess the situation, and avoid a collision given the distance between them.
However, he claimed that Ahmadov honked his horn just before approaching him, and did not slow down before the collision.
According to RFE/RL, Bayramli said that after the collision, he called his uncle and followed his advice to go to the police — the police report, however, claimed that he had fled the scene.
In turn, Ahmadov, who was recognised as a witness in the case, stated that he was driving between 60–70 km/h with the lights flashing and his horn blaring. He claimed that while he was driving, a Mercedes-Benz pulled out from the left and crashed into his car.
However, an expert report revealed that Ahmadov’s average speed was 159 km/h at the time. Despite the report the expert did not issue an indictment against Ahmadov.
Human rights lawyer Yalchin Imanov told OC Media that it was not unusual for the police officer not to be punished, despite the expert report stating that he was driving fast at the time of the accident. Imanov said that in Azerbaijan, all judges know not to punish police officers, and that they were instructed not to punish them by President Ilham Aliyev.
The schoolchildren’s parents did not make any claims against Bayramli and stated that they had no complaints or demands against him.
Following the accident, residents of Yalavaj held a spontaneous protest, smashing the police car and shouting ‘resignation’. It is unclear whose resignation they were calling for.
Azerbaijan reportedly deployed internal troops to disperse the protest.
Tahir Mammadov, the father of one of the killed schoolchildren, told AbzasMedia on 19 January that access to the internet had been limited in Yalavaj after the protests.
‘Even mobile signals were lost. We couldn’t make calls or send messages. After that, many people were summoned to the police station for questioning’.
The accident was followed by mass protests in Imishli which caused the arrests of the 19 residents.
A source from Imishli told OC Media on the condition of anonymity that the situation remained tense, and that ‘more than 100 people’ had been detained.
‘The entrance and exit of the district are under police control. The district is full of police and for now, police outnumber the residents’, the source said, adding that tensions were largely focused in the centre of Imishli.
The source added that the police had identified and tortured people involved in the protest which erupted in the aftermath of the accident, and that the police had summoned those who had written about the accident and the protest on social media.
‘If it had been an ordinary person, such tensions would not have happened’, they said. ‘Traffic police in Imishli abuse all residents, they could fine everyone saying that they violated the traffic rules.’
The arrested Imishli residents were sentenced to varying terms on charges of hooliganism. The eight residents found guilty in this case were sentenced to imprisonment for terms ranging from one to four years. Another 11 people also were sentenced to restricted freedom for terms ranging from one to four years.
Aytan Farhadova
