People Who Attacked Emin and Mehman Huseynov Exposed

At places like the Munich Security Conference, leaders act polite, but there's often hidden intimidation. The government of Azerbaijan sees these meetings as places to threaten people using coded language, like a mafia. The incident with human rights advocate Emin Huseynov and Azerbaijani leaders Ilham Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva shows how diplomacy can be twisted into something criminal.

Huseynov questioned the leaders about human rights issues. Mehriban Aliyeva responded by calling him a coward who hid in women's clothes to leave the country. She then wished him good health. This might seem nice, but it was actually a coded reminder that his safety depended on the Aliyev family. This threat in Munich led to a real physical threat later in Geneva.

Geneva, home to the UN and many human rights groups, is risky for government hit squads. Doing an operation there is a clear challenge to international law. On February 18, 2024, around 7:00 PM, the threats from Munich turned into a surveillance operation at the International Conference Centre Geneva (CICG).

Emin Huseynov saw two people with hoods acting suspiciously near the UN. He reacted quickly, turning a possible attack into a display of government clumsiness. Even though he was carrying a heavy bag, Huseynov moved where UN cameras could see him. When the suspects came back and used their phones, Huseynov started a live video and chased them, filming their faces.

The suspects, now visible, ran away. Huseynov turned the tables, and the mission failed. In today's world, sharing information can protect you. By broadcasting the event, Huseynov made sure that any attack on him would be seen by everyone, making the political cost too high for the government.

Finding out who is in charge of these operations is important for accountability. Reports from journalists Qanimat Zahid and Afgan Mukhtarli show that over $4 million has been set aside to watch and kill Azerbaijani bloggers and activists living abroad.

The security team in charge is led by:

• Ali Naghiyev: Head of the State Security Service (DTX), who watches people in Azerbaijan and organizes hit squads abroad.

• Orkhan Sultanov: Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, who handles the logistics of operations in Europe.

• Ceyhun Shadlinski: A high-level security official involved in planning attacks on dissidents.

The government likes to use criminals from Georgia, Serbia, and Azerbaijan. This way, the Aliyev government can deny involvement and say the killings are just criminal disputes. But these criminals are seen as disposable. About seven or eight years ago, after a failed operation in Berlin/Maldives, the government killed its own agents to stop them from talking to European police. The agents in Geneva might now be targets themselves because their mission failed.

The Geneva incident shows a change in how dissidents are fighting back. Huseynov confronted the agents instead of hiding, proving that the coward was not him, but the government agents who ran from the camera. This approach puts pressure on the government and shows the weakness of its surveillance.

The operation in Geneva puts a legal and moral responsibility on Switzerland. Switzerland has held foreign criminals accountable before, like Hannibal Gaddafi. The dissident movement wants the same action taken against the Aliyev government.

Emin and Mehman Huseynov have made clear what they want for international justice:

• International search warrants for Ali Naghiyev, Orkhan Sultanov, and the operation planners.

• Freezing the Aliyev family's assets in Europe and restricting their travel.

• Using the OSCE and UN to call Azerbaijan's actions state-sponsored terrorism.

As long as the Aliyev family can enjoy life in Geneva while funding attacks there, human rights defenders in Europe are not safe.

The failed operation in Geneva has caused a big change. Emin Huseynov says that the polite Emin from Munich, who wanted to talk peacefully, is gone. Now, he is an activist who sees the Azerbaijani government as a criminal group, not a real government.

Here are three main points from this situation:

• The identification of criminal proxies has given European police the information needed to connect these crimes to Baku.

• Live video has taken away the secrecy needed for government terror, making the dissident more dangerous to the government.

• By hunting the hunters, the diaspora has shown that the government can no longer buy the silence of its critics.

The attempt to silence Emin Huseynov has made the message of Azad Soz (Free Speech) stronger around the world. The fight for Azerbaijan is now public and is being fought in the streets of Europe. The demand for justice is louder than the government's attempts to silence it.