A Baku court has placed Ali Karimli under arrest.

A Baku court has ordered the arrest of Ali Karimli, leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, accused of committing acts aimed at the violent seizure of power. The PFPA has denied the charges, calling them politically motivated.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on November 29, State Security Service officers detained Ali Karimli, leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), his advisor and PFPA presidium member Mammad Ibrahim, and several other activists after searches. The party called the detentions politically motivated, assessing them as an attempt by the authorities to "destroy the last independent political force in Azerbaijan." In Turkey, on the night of November 30, Gultekin Hajibeyli, a member of the coordinating center of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) of Azerbaijan, was detained, a representative of the PFPA told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

On December 1, the Sabail District Court granted the request of the investigative body, the State Security Service, to detain Karimli for a period of 2.5 months, the party's press service told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to the court's decision, Karimli was remanded in custody until February 13, 2026, in connection with charges brought against him under Article 278.1 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan (actions aimed at the violent seizure of power or the violent change of the constitutional order of the state) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

"The charges are far-fetched, politically motivated, "The court's decision will be appealed," the PFPA representative said.

Karimli's advisor, Mammad Ibrahim, was also brought to court on similar charges for a pretrial detention, he added.

The fate of Gultekin Hajibeyli, however, remains unclear. "After her arrest in Turkey, she was taken to a deportation point in Aranvutköy (a district of Istanbul). However, there is no precise information whether she was delivered to Azerbaijan," the PFPA representative said.

In connection with the Karimli trial, reinforced police patrols have been deployed around the Sabail District Court, PFPA Deputy Chairman Seymur Hazi told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Hundreds of party activists intended to come to the courthouse to support Ali Kerimli and Mammad Ibrahimov. However, the authorities have amassed large police forces. All approaches to the Sabail Courthouse have been blocked. All accusations against Ali Karimli and the Popular Front Party are false. Official propaganda promotes the claim that Karimli and the Popular Front Party, under Russian direction, were planning a coup. This is utterly absurd. An organization that advocated for Azerbaijan's independence even before the collapse of the USSR and achieved it, a political force that was the first in the post-Soviet space to withdraw Russian troops from the republic, cannot serve the interests of the Kremlin, which seeks to restore the empire in a new form. This criminal case is a political show that will fail," said Hazi.

A Sabail Court official confirmed the news of Karimli's arrest.