Zahiraddin Agarza oglu Ibrahimov – a social activist and blogger, founder of the Talysh Cultural Center in the Sverdlovsk region of the Russian Federation Date of arrest: 26 March 2025 Charge: Articles 274 (High treason), 281.3 (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, committed by orders of foreign organizations or their representatives) and 283.1 (The actions directed on excitation of national, racial, social or religious hate and hostility, humiliation of national advantage, as well as actions directed on restriction of citizens rights, or establishment of the superiority of citizens on the basis of their national or racial, social belonging, creeds committed publicly, including with use of mass media) of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic.
On 23 August 2023, the Azerbaijani State Security Service initiated a criminal case against Z.
Ibrahimov and made him wanted; on 24 August, 2023, the Baku City Sabayil District Court issued a ruling on Z.
Ibrahimov's arrest for 1 month and 15 days.
Based on that ruling, on 26 March 2025, Z.
Ibrahimov was detained for the period of investigation.
On 3 May 2025, the Baku City Sabayil District Court ruled to extend the term of Zahiraddin Ibrahimov's detention for the period of investigation until 26 July 2025.
Place of detention: Pre-trial Detention Center of the State Security Service Conclusion: Zahiraddin Ibrahimov (born in 1954), a native of Shaglaser village in Lankaran region of Azerbaijan, a historian by profession, moved to the Russian Federation in 1997 where he had 94 been living in the city of Yekaterinburg.
In his spare time from his main employment, Z.
Ibrahimov wrote extensively about the history and culture of the Talysh and hosted a YouTube channel broadcasting in the Talysh language.
He was also one of the founders of a number of Talysh organizations in the Russian Federation.
In 2007, Z.
Ibrahimov acquired a Russian citizenship and, in accordance with the legislation, even sent a letter to the relevant Azerbaijani authorities asking a renunciation of Azerbaijani citizenship.
In 2014, he tried to come to Azerbaijan with a Russian passport, but he was not allowed into the country.
On 26 March 2025, in the morning, on his way to work, Z.
Ibrahimov suddenly disappeared.
His relatives lost touch with him within 15 minutes after he left his home in Yekaterinburg.
Later, it became known that he had been literally snatched by the Azerbaijani special services and brought to Azerbaijan.
It was a deliberately planned operation, obviously with the collaboration of Russian law enforcement bodies.
Interestingly, the same day, 26 March 2025, when Z.
Ibrahimov was still on the territory of the Russian Federation, the Head of the Investigation Department within the Azerbaijani State Security Service, Fuad Almammadov, sent a letter by snail mail to Z.
Ibrahimov's relatives in the village of Shaglaser informing them that Z.
Ibrahimov had been detained on charges of treason and was being held in the State Security Service detention center.
The family members received it only on 11 April 2025.
Meanwhile, Sayara Aliyeva, a state attorney hastily appointed by the authorities, instead of fulfilling her professional duties to defend her client, made numerous interviews with Azerbaijani and Russian media, in which she assured that her client had allegedly confessed to having ties with Armenia and that he had received several hundred dollars from that country in exchange.
And she added: "I don't know if he has been kidnapped anywhere. …
He was talking about Talysh rights, Talysh organizations and violations of Talysh rights.
He talked about silly, stupid things.” Having learned about all that, his relatives urgently withdrew their contract with S.Aliyeva and signed another one with a well-known lawyer, Javad Javadov.
In the course of the trial initiated against the detained Z.
Ibrahimov on 3 May 2025, Javad Javadov, his lawyer, pointed out that the detention of his client was illegal, as he had been a citizen of the Russian Federation since 2007, and his rights were protected by the Russian Constitution.
When he was brought from the RF to Azerbaijan bearing a Russian passport, the border officers at the airport in Lankaran city stated that Mr.
Ibrahimov was not permitted to enter the country.
Further, the lawyer drew attention to the fact that Z.
Ibrahimov officially revoked his Azerbaijani citizenship having notified the relevant AR structures about it, so the Article 274 of the AR Criminal Code could be applied only to the AR citizen, as Z.
Ibrahimov was obviously not.
The Court, nevertheless, traditionally did not pay attention to these outrageous law violations and issued a ruling to satisfy the investigator's petition to extend the detention period.
Yet, the issue of arrested Z.
Ibrahimov's citizenship was very pertinent and many media outlets in Russia raised the question why the authorities did not protect their citizen? The Russian authorities' reaction was shortly forthcoming: on 22 May 2025, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs sent a letter to the detainee, Z.
Ibrahimov, who was in the Azerbaijani pre-trial detention center, stating that as early as 12 May 2025, he had been deprived of Russian citizenship and was considered a citizen of Azerbaijan again! 95 GROUP № 5 ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS – 2 persons
