Talysh researcher Abilov sentenced to 18 years in prison in Azerbaijan

On Tuesday, Igbal Abilov, the editor-in-chief of the Talysh National Academy News magazine, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on charges of high treason. Abilov denied all charges during almost a year of pre-trial detention and subsequent trial.

RFE/RL reported that Abilov, who joined the court hearing online from the pre-trial detention center in the village of Kurdakhani where he is being held, made a final statement before the verdict was announced.

The historian stressed that all charges against him are ‘groundless and that he has been in prison for a long time without any evidence’. He said that he had researched the Talysh language and culture and called the charges of attempting to incite ethnic hatred ‘absurd’, seeking acquittal.

The Talysh are Azerbaijan’s largest minority, estimated to be at least 500,000 and up to one million, but have long struggled to secure their own ethnic autonomy and civil rights, including the ability to access education in the Talysh language.

The subject of Talysh rights and culture have been a sensitive subject for the Azerbaijani authorities for decades. In 1993, a short-lived separatist entity in southern Azerbaijan emerged calling itself the Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic. Its leader was soon arrested, and since then, Azerbaijan has frequently detained Talysh activists and cultural figures, including on charges of treason.

Abilov’s lawyers told RFE/RL that they will appeal the verdict.

The pro-government news site Qafqazinfo.az reported that Abilov had been accused of working with the Armenian security services, and had been ‘organising activities’ against Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, ‘attracting disruptive forces from different countries’, and ‘taking action aimed at creating hatred and enmity on ethnic grounds’.

Abilov was also accused of making ‘secret negotiations and deals’ via Skype with Armenian academics, including Garnik Asatryan, the head of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian–Armenian University in Yerevan, which the authorities accused of ‘conducting targeted work against Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity’.

Talysh researcher arrested for ‘treason’ in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani authorities have arrested an ethnic Talysh researcher on charges of treason and inciting ethnic hatred. On Wednesday, Igbal Abilov was remanded into four months pre-trial detention. He has also reportedly been barred from receiving visitors, including his family. Abilov was detained by the State Security Service on Monday in the village of Bala Kolatan, in southern Azerbaijan. Pro-government news site Qafqazinfo.az reported that Abilov is accused of working with the Armenian secu

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The authorities also said he was suspected of ‘providing assistance to Vardan Voskanian and others associated with the Armenian Special Service Organisation’. Vardan Voskanian heads the Department of Iranian Studies at Yerevan State University.

Abilov is one of the founders of the Talysh National Academy based in Belarus, and the editor of its namesake magazine. The organisation describes the magazine as ‘the first international scientific publication dedicated to comprehensive study of Talysh’.

Abilov’s father, Shahin Abilov, denied all the allegations against his son. He told OC Media that Abilov, who has lived in Belarus since childhood, was a researcher of many ethnic minorities ‘from the Caucasus to China’, including the Talysh.

Azerbaijan State Security Service kidnaps Russian citizen of Talysh origin

Zahiraddin Ibrahimov, a Talysh historian, disappeared in Russia and was found several days later in Azerbaijan.

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Abilov is not the only Talysh historian who was accused of treason and arrested over the last year in Azerbaijan — two months ago, Zahiraddin Ibrahimov reportedly disappeared on 26 March in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Shortly afterwards, his relatives in the Lankaran district in southern Azerbaijan received a letter from Azerbaijan’s State Security Service, which listed several charges against Ibrahimov, including treason.

In October 2024, Azerbaijan sentenced ethnic Talysh activist Mirhafiz Jafarzade, who advocated for the creation of Talysh school textbooks in Azerbaijan, to 16 years in prison on charges of treason.

Azerbaijan sentences Talysh activist to 16 years in prison for treason

Ethnic Talysh activist Mirhafiz Jafarzade, who advocated for the creation of Talysh school textbooks in Azerbaijan, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of treason. Jafarzade, who is also a Russian citizen, was found guilty of treason in the form of espionage on Thursday. Jafarzade was detained by the authorities in November 2022. That day, pro-government media reported that the trial had determined that Jafarzade worked ’in secret cooperation with foreign special services

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