Trial of Ali Karimli and Mammad Ibrahim begins behind closed doors

On November 3, the Baku Serious Crimes Court began hearing the criminal case against Ali Karimli, chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), and Mammad Ibrahim, a member of the party's presidium.

According to information shared by APFP members and people at the scene, the hearing was held behind closed doors. Police did not allow journalists, APFP activists or people who came to follow the hearing into the building. Some reports said they were not allowed near the court building either.

The defendants' motions to drop the criminal case, change the pre-trial detention measure, and allow Ali Karimli to sit next to his lawyers were rejected. Ali Karimli said the charge was groundless and demanded that the criminal case be dropped. He protested against the closed hearing and said he did not wish to take part if the hearings continued in this manner.

National Council chairman Jamil Hasanli wrote on social media that police officers had been deployed around the building before the trial began. According to him, police did not let people near the building, saying the trial would be held behind closed doors. Jamil Hasanli criticised the fact that the decision to hold a closed hearing had effectively been announced before the trial began and claimed this showed the decision had been made in advance. The next hearing has been set for November 13.

Ali Karimli and Mammad Ibrahim were arrested in November 2025. Although they were initially said to be held within the criminal case linked to Ramiz Mehdiyev, former head of the Presidential Administration, the cases were later separated. Both have been charged under Article 278.1 of the Criminal Code – actions aimed at the violent seizure of power or the violent change of the constitutional order of the state. The article carries a sentence of 12 to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.

Ali Karimli and Mammad Ibrahim reject the charges and say their arrests were politically ordered. Ali Karimli had earlier said that he had not given testimony to the investigation. The APFP leadership considers the charges politically motivated and groundless.

On February 12, 2026, the State Security Service (DTX) issued a statement on the criminal case linked to Ramiz Mehdiyev. Alongside Mehdiyev, the statement named former first deputy prime minister Abbas Abbasov, Ali Karimli and Mammad Ibrahim. The DTX alleged that some of these individuals, with the support of foreign intelligence services, had acted to seize power by force in Azerbaijan and change the constitutional order. It was announced last week that the trial in the case against Ramiz Mehdiyev had concluded and that he had received a 14-year suspended sentence; reports said journalists and people wishing to follow that hearing were also not admitted.