Human Rights Defender Bashir Suleymanli’s Complaint About Detention Conditions

Imprisoned human rights defender Bashir Suleymanli, head of the Institute for Civil Rights, reported that his concerns regarding detention conditions have been addressed. On May 9, he informed his relatives that the issue he had previously raised had been resolved.

Earlier, Suleymanli had complained about overcrowding at the Kurdakhani Pretrial Detention Center, where he was being held in a four-person cell. According to his relatives, a fifth detainee had been added to the same cell, which led to overcrowding, lack of sleeping space, and other logistical problems. Despite appeals made to the detention center’s administration, the matter initially remained unaddressed.

Efforts to obtain a comment from the Penitentiary Service have not been successful. In the past, the service has typically dismissed similar complaints as unsubstantiated.

Bashir Suleymanli was arrested on March 14, 2025, alongside several civil society representatives. He is facing charges under Articles 193-1.3.2 (legalization of large amounts of property obtained through criminal means), 308.2 (abuse of official powers resulting in serious consequences), and 313 (official forgery) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. These charges carry prison sentences of up to 12 years. The Binagadi District Court imposed a 3-month and 28-day pretrial detention measure pending investigation.

The case is part of a broader criminal investigation involving non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which was first launched by the General Prosecutor’s Office in 2014 and later reopened in 2025. According to official statements, nearly 50 individuals have been summoned as part of the investigation, with some placed under arrest, others under police supervision, and some declared wanted.

Among those implicated are:

• Mammad Alpay Mammadzade, head of the Election Monitoring Alliance, who was arrested alongside Suleymanli;

• Mehriban Rahimli, Azerbaijan adviser to the German Marshall Fund (GMF), who was charged and placed under police supervision during the investigation;

• Hafiz Hasanov, head of the Law and Development Public Union, who was placed under house arrest;

• Subhan Hasanli, head of the Center for Social Rights, who was declared wanted and charged in absentia due to being abroad.

This is not the first time Bashir Suleymanli has faced prosecution. In May 2014, he was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison on charges of illegal entrepreneurship and tax evasion—charges he denied. He was released in March 2015 under a presidential pardon. At that time, he was the executive director of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS), which had published critical reports on elections in Azerbaijan.

In the past 18 months, nearly 40 journalists, bloggers, and civil society activists have been arrested in Azerbaijan. Some human rights defenders estimate that the country currently holds over 350 political prisoners—a claim the authorities reject, asserting that all detainees have been prosecuted for criminal offenses, not political activity.