Scientist remanded to Azerbaijan by Turkey arrested in Gubad Ibadoglu case
Political arrests in Azerbaijan
Fazil Gasimov, an economist living in Turkey, was detained by Turkish law enforcement and handed over to the Azerbaijani government. According to official information, Gasimov was arrested in the case of Gubad Ibadoglu and he was charged with a similar crime. His relatives stated that they learned about the incident from social networks and did not provide them with any information about the reason for Gasimov’s arrest.
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Nazim Gasimov, Fazil Gasimov’s brother, told Turan news agency that he was taken from his home in Istanbul.
“Information about the reason for his arrest was not provided. From social networks, we learned that Fazil was brought to Baku.
However, the reason for the arrest was not explained to our family, and we cannot get information about this from government agencies,” Nazim Gasimov said.
Who is Fazil Gasimov?
Fazil Gasimov was born in 1985 in the village of Bashlybel in the Kalbajar region, which returned to Azerbaijan after the end of the second Karabakh war.
He entered the university, scoring the highest possible 700 points in the entrance exams. First he graduated from the Caucasus University in Azerbaijan. The activity of this university was suspended in January 2017, when the “hunt” for FETÖ continued in the country.
Gasimov later studied at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and Ozyegin University in Turkey. He is a doctoral student at Istanbul University since 2019. In recent years, he has lived in Istanbul.
In his last Facebook post on July 29, he criticized the recent arrests in Azerbaijan:
“In the 21st century, scientists are persecuted, good people are slandered. It is difficult for us to distinguish reality from dream. We need a new renaissance for the sake of the clarity of tomorrow.”
Similar charge of counterfeiting
According to information released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, Fazil Gasimov was wanted:
“[…] in connection with a criminal case, was brought to the country and handed over to the investigation.”
He was charged under article 204.3.1 of the Criminal Code (when an organized group committed the manufacture, acquisition or sale of counterfeit money or securities).
By the decision of the Narimanov District Court of Baku, Gasimov was sentenced to 3 months and 12 days of arrest.
According to official information, Fazil Gasimov was arrested in the same case as Gubad Ibadoglu.
Is the FETÖ case expanding?
Arrested on July 24, the head of the Azerbaijan Democracy and Prosperity movement, scientist-economist Gubad Ibadoglu, was also charged under Article 204.3.1 of the Criminal Code. According to information released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, one of the four people detained the day before during a special operation carried out in connection with FETÖ (an organization designated as a terrorist organization in Turkey, led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen), was identified with Ibadoglu, which led to his holding accountable.
Simultaneously with the detention of Ibadoglu, the pro-government media of Azerbaijan published a report about the arrest in Baku of four people associated with FETÖ, including Anar Aliyev, citing the pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Shafak.
In particular, it was reported that Doyrush Jafarov, one of the former leaders of FETÖ in Azerbaijan, Gumrakh Abdurakhmanov, who is in charge of the financial affairs of the organization, Ruslan Aliyev, director of the Yurd Center, and Anar Aliyev, who is in charge of organizational issues, were detained.
“It has been established that Jafarov, Abdurakhmanov and Aliyev have been promoting their ideas in FETÖ educational centers in Azerbaijan for a long time and have taken steps to attract young people to the organization,” writes Azerbaijan’s pro-government press.
The next day, it became known that all the listed persons were arrested and charged with the manufacture, purchase or sale of counterfeit money (Article 204.3.1) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, like Ibadoglu.
Ruslan Aliyev, who is in prison, is a lecturer at the Baku Engineering University.
