The Cypriot Criminal Court has sentenced Azerbaijani national Orkan Asadov to six and a half years in prison on charges of conspiracy. The prosecution had previously dropped additional terrorism-charges that alleged Asadov was targeting Israeli citizens.
Asadov was sentenced on 21 November, after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime and weapons possession. The sentencing takes into account time already served in detention.
His lawyer Kostis Efstathiou confirmed to Reuters that prosecutors had dropped the charges specifying that Israeli citizens were Asadov’s alleged targets during the lengthy trial, which took place behind closed doors.
‘We convinced the court that ethnicity had absolutely nothing to do with this case’, Efstathiou said. ‘It had nothing to do with terrorism’.
Asadov was originally detained in late 2021 after a pistol, cartridges, and a silencer were found in his possession. He was widely reported to be an Azerbaijani holding a Russian passport who was detained in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia after crossing by car a checkpoint linking the Turkish-controlled north.
Shortly after, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid hinted that their intelligence services had contributed to the arrest.
‘There are security threats. As you can see, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, all of the security forces know how to handle them’, Lapid told reporters when asked about the incident. ‘The fact is that we’re there. We’re minding matters’.
Matan Sidi, a spokesperson for then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, separately claimed that ‘this was a terrorist incident directed by Iran against Israeli businesspeople living in Cyprus’.
Iran’s Embassy in Cyprus responded to the claims by telling Reuters that ‘This regime is always making such a baseless allegation against the Islamic Republic of Iran’, referring to Israel.
According to Reuters, the charge sheet against Asadov never listed an Iranian link.
Attacks against Jewish people have been on the rise worldwide as international condemnation mounted over the conduct of its war in Gaza. Citing the Anti-Defamation League, Reuters reported that there has been a 140% increase in antisemitic incidents in 2023 over 2022 in the US.
In October, the Conference of European Rabbis in Azerbaijan was cancelled due to ‘safety concerns’. The conference was intended to cover religious freedom, anti-semitism, and the Abraham Accords. The rabbis behind the conference have not specified the kind of ‘safety concerns’ they had over holding the conference.
Aytan Farhadova
