Prosecutor Seeks 14-Year Sentence for Election Monitor Anar Mammadli

A state prosecutor has asked a Baku court to sentence prominent election monitor Anar Mammadli to 14 years in prison and civic activist Anar Abdulla to 13 years.

The request was made during a hearing at the Baku Court for Grave Crimes on July 24 in the case against Mammadli, chairman of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center, and Abdulla.

The hearing was presided over by Judge Aygun Gurbanova. After the court examined the case materials, the prosecutor delivered the closing statement.

The prosecution also asked the court to ban both defendants from holding certain positions for three years.

The next hearing is scheduled for August 7.

Mammadli was detained on April 29, 2024. He is accused of smuggling committed by a group acting in prior conspiracy. He denies the charge. International human rights organizations regard him as a political prisoner.

Abdulla was formally charged in the same criminal case on April 8, 2025. He faces accusations including illegal entrepreneurship, sham entrepreneurship, smuggling, tax and social-payment evasion, and the forgery of official documents.

According to the latest report by local human rights defenders, 328 people are currently considered political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani officials reject allegations of politically motivated persecution and maintain that prosecutions are based on criminal offenses rather than political activity.