Azerbaijan's Supreme Court upheld the sentence of former diplomat Ibrahimov.

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan has upheld the sentence of former Azerbaijani diplomat Emin Ibrahimov. His defense intends to challenge the legality of Ibrahimov's criminal prosecution in the European Court of Human Rights.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, in April 2025, a Baku court sentenced former Azerbaijani diplomat Emin Ibrahimov to seven years in prison. The court acquitted Ibrahimov of the hooliganism charge but found him guilty of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm in a generally dangerous manner for hooligan motives. Ibrahimov and his defense disagreed with the verdict and promised to appeal it. The defense also drew attention to inconsistencies in the victim's testimony during the investigation and in court.

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan heard Ibrahimov's cassation appeal against his sentence today, his lawyer, Fakhraddin Mehdiyev, told the Caucasian Knot correspondent. According to him, Ibrahimov was not brought to the Supreme Court at his own request.

The defense asked the court to acquit the former diplomat. "The defense believes that the judicial investigation failed to prove Emin Ibragimov's guilt. No credible evidence of Ibragimov's commission of the crime he is accused of was presented. Even the prosecution witnesses, police officers, stated that they did not see Ibragimov inflict the knife wound," Mekhtiyev said.

He also pointed out the implausibility of the testimony of victim Kamal Shukurov, which he gave in the trial court. The victim claimed that he gave his initial testimony to the police supposedly the day after colon surgery, although the man, whose health, according to the investigation, suffered "grave harm," could not have left the hospital the following day, the lawyer continued.

The defense said that now, following the Supreme Court's decision, national appeal mechanisms have been exhausted and the defense has the right to appeal to the ECHR. "We have already filed a complaint with the ECHR regarding Ibragimov's pre-trial detention. We "They raised the issue of a violation of Article 5 (the right to liberty and security of person) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Communication on this issue has not yet begun. We will now file a complaint on the merits of the case and on the unlawfulness of the verdict," the lawyer explained.

A Supreme Court official confirmed to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the verdict against Ibrahimov has been upheld.

As a reminder, from 2007 to 2020, Emin Ibrahimov served in the diplomatic service, which he left in protest against fraud in the 2020 parliamentary elections. After that, Ibrahimov worked in analytical work, taught courses at the Institute of Political Management, and was a consistent critic of the Azerbaijani government.