Defendant says fraud charges against him are fabricated, calls for video in the courtroom.

A leading Azerbaijani opposition figure, Tofig Yagublu, faces up to 13 years in prison on a variety of fraud charges, prosecutors stated at the start of his trial in Baku. He insists the charges against him are politically motivated.

Yagublu was among more than a dozen prominent journalists and government critics detained amid a crackdown late last year as the country prepared to hold a snap presidential election. Opponents of President Ilham Aliyev’s administration contend the wave of arrests was designed to muzzle criticism of his regime during his re-election campaign.

No cameras are being permitted in the courtroom for Yagublu’s trial, a fact that he pointed out hasn’t been the case in other recent high-profile proceedings. “Why don't you allow that [video] at my trial? Are you afraid of being exposed?” he stated, according to courtroom observers.

The indictment against Yagublu alleges he took cash payments of 25,000 euros and 10,000 manats (about $5,880 at current exchange rates) in return for promising to arrange for an Azerbaijani citizen to obtain asylum in Germany. The alleged German asylum seeker sent money to Yagublu via an individual named Elnur Mammadov, who testified at the July 26 trial session.

Mammadov testified that he became aware that Yagublu engaged in a side business of arranging asylum status, and he approached him on behalf of a friend. Mammadov went on to say that Yagublu told him he would use a contact in France to set the asylum process in motion, explaining that 25,000 euros would go to the “fixer” while he would keep a 7,000-manat facilitation fee, and Mammadov himself would get a 3,000-manat cut.

Yagublu, a member of the Musavat Party who is also a senior figure in the opposition National Council of Democratic Forces, denied Mammadov’s testimony, alleging the witness has long been a government operative used to set up bogus crimes against government opponents. Yagublu’s family members were escorted out of the courtroom after they vigorously protested during Mammadov’s testimony. The presiding judge then adjourned the trial until August 9.

In 2020, Yagublu was sentenced to four-plus years in prison for “hooliganism” following a trial that Human Rights Watch characterized as a “mockery of justice.” He was amnestied after serving a few months of the sentence.

In a report detailing the government’s treatment of Yagublu, Trial Watch, a program operated by the Clooney Foundation for Justice, identified numerous procedural shortcomings in the conduct of Yagublu’s 2020 trial.

“From the outset the proceedings against Mr. Yagublu entailed prima facie violations of his fair trial rights,” the report states. “The judgment failed to address significant discrepancies in the prosecution’s case, including witness testimonies that were contradictory, inconsistent, or did not hold up under defense cross-examination.”