Mehman Tofiq oglu Mammadov - blogger Date of arrest: 6 January 2025 Charge: Articles 281.1 (Public appeals to violent capture of authority, violent deduction of authority or violent change constitutional grounds or infringement of territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as distribution of materials of such contents) and 281.2 (Public appeals directed against the state, committed repeatedly or by group of persons) of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic. On 7 January 2025, the Baku City Binagadi District Court issued an order to detain Mehman Mammadov for 3 months. The term of detention during the investigation was subsequently extended several times. 105 At the trial, Mehman Mammadov did not plead guilty to the charges and asked the Court to dismiss the investigator's petition and the prosecutor's demand to impose a preventive measure in the form of remand in custody. Sentence: On 6 October 2025, the Baku City Court for Serious Crimes sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in prison Judge: Aygun Qurbanova Conclusion: According to the indictment, Mehman Mammadov, along with the Swiss-based bloggers Manaf Jalilzade and Suleyman Suleymanly, set up a group on social media where he spread messages calling for the violent overthrow and coup in Azerbaijan. On 20 June 2024, Mehman Mammadov together with his family was deported from Switzerland to Azerbaijan, where he was arrested and then convicted. He categorically denied the charges against him at the trial. GROUP № 8 ARRESTED IN CONNECTION TO THE IMISHLI CASE – 15 persons Clarification of the Imishli District case At noon on 18 January 2025, a police car speeding on Abbasgulu Shadli Street in Imishli (208 km from Baku in the south of the country) tried to avoid a collision with another car and crashed into a group of children on the side of the road. As a result, two children were killed on the spot and a third died at the hospital three days later. Three others were injured and taken to the hospital. As a result of the police car crashing and killing the children, there was an outburst of outrage and large-scale local residents' protests. In many ways, it was due to the fact that the local residents had been suffering for a long time from the arbitrary behaviour of the regional authorities and particularly the police. According to Yusif Yusifli, a public activist, if the perpetrator of the road accident had been a civilian, the public reaction, despite the tragic outcome, would have been rather different, "The anger of Imishli residents was particularly fuelled by the fact that the perpetrator of the accident was a well-known police officer. The people were tired of his conduct. Besides, there was an obvious dissatisfaction with the district administration and cops. No coincidence that the protesters demanded their resignation’ as he noted”. As a result, the angry residents smashed a police vehicle and clashed with the policemen. Afterwards, the outraged Imishli residents headed towards the district police department shouting ‘Resign!’. The situation escalated when the police officers tried to whitewash the perpetrator responsible for the road accident and the children's deaths. Then the authorities urgently deployed police officers from neighbouring districts to Imishli, who massively detained the residents. But the situation in the city continued to escalate. A 106 convoy of internal troops vehicles accompanied by reinforced armoured machinery began to arrive in Imishli. Actually, an undeclared state of emergency was established in Imishli. The city was also cut off from the Internet and telephone services. The opposition representatives and independent journalists' attempt to come and get real information on the spot have failed. The police detained three members of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party and two members of the ‘Musavat’ Party demanding the deletion of footage related to the Imishli event. Their demand has been satisfied. Only after that all detainees were released. Imishli District Prosecutor's Office initiated a criminal case under the Article 263.3 (Infringement by the person managing automobile, tram or other mechanical vehicle, rules of traffic or operation of vehicles, committed on imprudence entailed death of two or more persons) of the AR Criminal Code in connection to the tragedy. The authorities also ordered to arrest a resident of Imishli, Beylar Bayramli, whose car was involved in the road accident and who was identified as the perpetrator of the accident, accused in the death of three children instead of the policeman whose name was carefully concealed. The authorities also informed about the detention of 20 residents who were charged for damaging a police vehicle. On 19 January 2025, all of them were accused under the Article 221.2.1 (Hooliganism, that is the deliberate actions roughly breaking a social order, expressing obvious disrespect for a society, accompanying with application of violence on citizens or threat of its application, as well as destruction or damage of another's property, committed by group of persons) of the AR Criminal Code. On 3 July 2025, 19 Imishli residents were convicted to various terms of imprisonment, while Nazim Aliyev was sentenced to a 1-year suspended imprisonment and released at the courtroom.