NIYAMADDIN AHMADOV
PFPA activist, currently serving a 13-year prison sentence on disputed charges, known for his role as the bodyguard of party leader Ali Karimli.
About Niyamaddin Ahmadov
Niyamaddin Ahmadov was born on 14 May 1990 in the Tovuz district of Azerbaijan. He has a secondary education and is a member of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP).
Ahmadov has been imprisoned since 15 April 2020. He was initially sentenced to thirty days of administrative detention during the COVID-19 quarantine period for violation of quarantine rules and failure to comply with police orders (Articles 211 and 535 of Azerbaijan’s Code of Administrative Offences). He denied these charges, stating that he had permission to be outside.
Despite completing his sentence on 15 May 2020, Ahmadov was not released. Instead, he was taken directly from administrative detention to the Prosecutor General’s Office, where he was charged and subjected to pre-trial detention without being allowed to notify his lawyer. Instead, he was represented by a state-appointed lawyer at the subsequent court hearing.
He was charged under several articles of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, including Article 214-1 (financing of terrorism), Article 28.281.2 (preparation for public calls against the state by a group of persons), and Article 233-1.2.1 (illegal acquisition and possession of prohibited items). The criminal case alleges that Gabil Mammadov, a harsh critic of the Azerbaijani government on YouTube, owed Ahmadov 5,500 AZN (approx. $3,200) and a pair of glasses equipped with a camera in order to support a coup in Azerbaijan.
Ahmadov denies the charges. Before his arrest, he served as a volunteer bodyguard for APFP leader Ali Karimli, and claims that he was targeted and framed because he refused to let go of Karimli’s arm when he was being detained during an opposition rally on 19 October 2019. He notes that his criminal case was opened on 29 October 2019 – shortly after that rally – and that a warrant was issued for Gabil Mammadov’s arrest on the same day.
Ahmadov stated that, while serving his thirty-day administrative sentence in April 2020, he was forcibly taken from the detention facility to the State Security Service (SSS) –with a bag placed over his head – where he was tortured for several days and pressured to testify against Ali Karimli.
Ahmadov was sentenced to thirteen years by the Baku Court on Grave Crimes on 8 October 2021, and he is currently being held at Penitentiary No. 12.
In March 2024, while held in Penitentiary No. 12, Ahmadov went on a fifteen-day hunger strike in protest against the violation of his right to meet with his family and the obstacles placed on the delivery of food parcels. Additionally, in March, he was sentenced to six days in solitary confinement for allegedly possessing a poem critical of the government.
Although he denies the charges, Ahmadov’s sentence was upheld by both the Baku Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Complaints about Ahmadov’s detention, torture, and trial have been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Resources about Niyamaddin Ahmadov
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