The Tovuz District Court has sentenced Haji Valiyev, former chair of the Public Union of Young Veterans, to two and half years in prison on charges of hooliganism with the use of a weapon. Valiyev has pleaded not guilty and accuses the authorities of persecuting him for his work on veterans’ rights.
Valiyev originally was arrested in April 2025 on charges of ‘intentional destruction or damage to another’s property, if committed with significant harm to the victim’. Those charges were dropped in late April.
Following his sentencing, Valiyev published a post saying he was being held at a pre-trial detention centre in Ganja.
‘I have serious health problems, especially with my vision’, he wrote. Hajiyev lost an eye during the war and sustained injuries to the other.
‘I once again clearly state that my arrest was a political order and was carried out in connection with my public activities. It was the Azerbaijani authorities who ordered my unlawful arrest, inhumane treatment, and torture in prison’.
Valiyev has previously also linked his arrest with his criticism of the government’s treatment of veterans and claimed that he was arrested ‘on false, untrue, and fabricated charges’ related to his public activities.
‘Because I wrote about the government’s cold and condescending attitude toward veterans, their indifference, arbitrary actions, and procrastination following [the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War] on official and social media, and also expressed these thoughts in my video messages’, he said.
Valiyev has had previous run-ins with the government.
In January, on his social media page, he wrote that he sued the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection for not providing him with a car as part of a social support programme for veterans.
On his social media page, Valiyev also complained about police obstructing veterans from engaging in street trading in the Yasamal district. Valiyev has also published videos showing police confiscating goods from the veterans.
In February, Valiyev claimed that the State Security Service (DTX) demanded a list of his Public Union of Young Veterans’ members. He said that he spoke with an official from the DTX, who informed him that he did not have any issues with the organisation.
Later that month, Valiyev wrote that he faced police brutality when he and other veterans attempted to take appointments to meet with an official at the Presidential Administration to complain about police preventing them from selling wares on the street. They were forcibly removed from the administration building and taken to a police station.
On 10 March, he again posted a video discussing police brutality against veterans trading on the street.
‘We are like beggars and can’t earn money for a living. We receive ₼80 ($47) in social benefits from the government which is not enough. Our problems were not solved. We are not saying that we should disrespect the police. No, but some police officers try to provoke us’, he said in the video.
On 18 March, the spokesperson of the Union of Young Veterans, Nariman Ilgaroghlu, was detained for several hours and subsequently released.
On 6 May, a post was published on Valiyev’s behalf on his Facebook page, in which he called his sentencing ‘punishment for a person who lost his health for the sake of his homeland’.
‘Punishing a man who speaks out about injustice and speaks out demonstrates that for some, telling the truth is not acceptable. This sentence is not directed against just one person — it is seen as a warning to all who speak the truth’.
‘Silencing a veteran cannot change the truth or ease a conscience. The decision made today will not be forgotten. Because this is no longer just a sentence — it is a memorial’, he concluded.
Valiyev established the Public Union of Young Veterans in 2021. He has since organised protests to shed more light on issues pertaining to veterans.
The organisation was not approved for registration by the Justice Ministry. Its activities were suspended after Valiyev’s arrest, citing internal disagreements.
