Azerbaijan teacher says stabbing charge is revenge for government criticism

Dayanat Chalabiyev

An Azerbaijani teacher on trial for stabbing a man has told a Baku court that he was framed because of his online criticism of the country's government.

Dayanat Chalabiyev, 45, has been in custody for seven months since his arrest in December 2025.

The English teacher faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted of hooliganism and intentionally causing serious harm to health.

Speaking at the Baku Grave Crimes Court on 16 July, Mr Chalabiyev accused the judicial panel of indifference and protested against his detention.

"You do not care that this is a human life," he told the court. "My family cannot make a living, there is no one working at home. I will not come to the court next time."

The alleged victim, Mirsahib Khudaverdizade, did not attend the hearing. Mr Chalabiyev argued that if the stabbing had actually occurred, the victim would have been eager to appear in court to see justice served.

According to the prosecution, the incident took place on 22 December last year. However, Mr Chalabiyev told the court he was walking with his laptop when he was suddenly ambushed and shoved in an underpass, after which police immediately detained him.

He maintains he was not carrying a knife and did not injure anyone.

The day before his arrest, Mr Chalabiyev posted a highly critical statement on Facebook, writing that the governing model centred around President Ilham Aliyev and his family was leading the country to disaster.

"Aliyev's family rule did not strengthen the country, it weakened it," he wrote. "The state was personalised, the people were marginalised, and the future was mortgaged."

Mr Chalabiyev had previously been sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention in May 2025 on charges of minor hooliganism and resisting police, which he also rejected as politically motivated.

Human rights organisations say stabbing charges have increasingly been used in recent years to target political activists in Azerbaijan.

Prominent figures including labour rights advocate Afiyaddin Mammadov and former diplomat Emin Ibrahimov have faced similar charges under comparable circumstances.

Rights groups estimate there are currently 328 political prisoners in the country.

Azerbaijani officials deny the existence of political prisoners, maintaining that those on trial are prosecuted strictly for criminal offences.