Anar Mammadli – human rights defender and head of the NGO Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC) Date of arrest: 29 April 2024 Charge: Articles 192.3.2 (Illegal business, committed with gaining an extra large-scale income); 193-1.3.1 (Legalization of money or other property obtained by crime, committed by an organized group or a criminal organization (criminal association); 193-1.3.2 (Legalization of money or other property obtained by crime, committed in large amount); 206.4 (Smuggling, committed by the organized group); 213.2.1 (Evasion from payment of taxes, committed by the organized group); 320.1 (Fake of certificate or other official document giving the rights or releasing from duties, with a view of its use or selling of such document, as well as manufacturing in same purposes or selling of counterfeit state awards of the Azerbaijan Republic, stamps, seals, forms) and 320.2 (Use of obviously counterfeit documents) of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic.
On 30 April 2024, the Baku City Khatai District Court issued a ruling: to apply a preventive measure against Anar Mammadli in the form of arrest for a period of 3 months and 28 days.
The period of detention in custody during the investigation has been subsequently extended times Place of detention: Pre-trial Detention Center № 1 at the Kyurdakhani settlement in Baku City Sabunchu District Conclusion: Anar Mammadli is the human rights defender and head of the EMDSC, an organization that has been conducting independent election monitoring in Azerbaijan and on 7 February 2024, published in the report numerous facts of violations and falsifications.
Right after that, there began a smear campaign against Anar Mammadli and his NGO in the pro-government media.
There were published numerous articles stating that Anar Mammadli had received grants of huge sums from abroad to "denigrate the elections" and "subvert the elections".
Following that, on 29 April 2024, Anar Mammadli was arrested on one of the streets in Baku.
According to the former executive director of the EMDSC, the Head of the Civil Rights Institute, Bashir Suleymanli, "Anar Mammadli was going to the kindergarten to pick up his child.
Not far from the kindergarten, on Teymur Aliyev street, he was suddenly grabbed by the men in civilian clothes, put into a black car and taken away in an unknown direction.
It was seen by the people who knew Anar and we were immediately.
After that Anar did not contact anyone." At the same time, the police searched Mammadli's house.
Meanwhile, Mammadli ended up without a lawyer because his defence counsellor, Elchin Sadiqov, was not even allowed to be present at the raid, even though the latter had provided the police with a warrant and his ID.
The police did not allow any journalists to attend the search either. 39 According to Anar Mammadli's sister, having finished the search, the police left a special tape with which usually wrapped the money in Anar’s flat.
In other words, as the sister pointed out, the police had planted the money that they had "found," and based on that Anar would be accused of smuggling it.
Soon it became known that Anar Mammadli has been brought in the case of Abzas Media and thereby becoming the eighth defendant in this "case".
Initially, he was charged with involvement in smuggling, which he denied.
On 19 May 2025, Anar Mammadli was charged with additional six articles of the AR Criminal Code.
In the course of his trial at the Baku City Khatai District Court, Anar Mammadli denied the charges brought against him and the allegations that he had been involved in any smuggling.
Anar Mammadli has previously been facing criminal prosecution.
In 2014, he was arrested on fake charges of tax evasion and illegal entrepreneurship, resulting in a 5 yeara and 6 months imprisonment sentence.
The international human rights organisations condemned his arrest and recognised him as a "prisoner of conscience".
In March 2016, Anar Mammadli was pardoned.
In April 2018, the ECHR found Anar Mammadli's arrest unlawful and ordered to pay him 9,500 euros.
