A seven-month pregnant 17-year-old girl has died the day she was intended to ‘marry’ a 22-year-old man in Azerbaijan.
The girl, Afsana Imanova, died in the rural village of Degadi, in Azerbaijan’s southern Astara District, on 29 October.
Okhu.az reported that the incident occurred an hour into the ceremony at the Ata Yurdu wedding palace, when Imanova’s condition suddenly worsened, and she was rushed to the Astara Central District Hospital.
According to Azerbaijani law, it is illegal for children under the age of 18 to get married.
An examination carried out upon her arrival at the hospital revealed that Imanova was seven months pregnant, and that she had miscarried.
According to Okhu.az, a medical examination revealed that she was suffering from a variety of pregnancy-related complications that resulted in the miscarriage, which also ultimately led to her death.
Magsud Imanov, Imanova’s father, told local media that he had not known of his daughter’s pregnancy.
‘I didn’t know she was pregnant. When we arrived at the hospital on her wedding day, we learned she was seven months pregnant. We hadn’t felt anything before’.
Citing Bizim Media, Qafqazinfo wrote that when journalists had asked Imanov about his daughter’s age, he said: ‘She was three months away from turning 18’.
In 2023, after failing the ninth-grade, Imanova reportedly moved to the village of Zira in the Baku District and began working as a labourer in greenhouses.
She met her fiance, 22-year-old Amil Chovziev, at her workplace, and the two got engaged in March 2025.
Azerbaijani women’s rights activists have regularly raised the issue of early marriage and child rape, calling for stricter measures to protect children.
In December 2024, Bahar Muradova, the chair of the State Committee for Family, Women, and Children’s Affairs, stated that Azerbaijan had strengthened measures to combat early marriage.
‘The legal age for marriage has been set at 18, and previous exceptions have been abolished’, the state-run media outlet Azertag reported, citing Muradova.
Muradova did not mention which measures were strengthened, and according to the State Statistical Committee, 185 brides under the age of 18 registered their marriages in 2024.
The committee also reported that 73 children were born to mothers aged between 15–17 years old who were officially registered as being married, one of which was a second child.
In total in 2024, 1,279 babies were born to women aged between 15–17 years old, 401 of whom were from cities, and 878 from rural areas.
Activists have also pointed to abortion statistics as an indicator that marriages before the age of 18 could be hidden.
In 2024, 78,245 abortions were registered in the country — of which 72 were from girls aged 15–17 years old, and 2,679 were from women aged 18–19 years old.
Muradova said that work of activists, the media, and civil society was ‘an important factor’ in combating underage marriage.
‘The goal is not only to improve the legislative framework but also to foster public opposition to early marriage through educational efforts’, Muradova said.
OC Media has reached out to the local Astara authorities but has not received a response at the time of publication.
Aytan Farhadova
