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Over the past decade, Italy has been Azerbaijan’s main export destination. While Rome continues to benefit from Azerbaijani oil, Ilham Aliyev’s regime sentences a young scholar and aspiring film director to 18 years in prison
Igbal Abilov, a 35-year-old ethnographer and filmmaker, was recently sentenced to 18 years in prison by a court in Azerbaijan on charges of “treason”. The sentence was handed down after a closed trial, with no publicly disclosed evidence .
Born in Azerbaijan and raised in Belarus, Abilov earned a degree in international relations, pursued doctoral studies , published academic works , and began teaching at the university level. In addition to his main academic work, Abilov – who is Talysh himself – has also taken a strong interest in studying the Talysh people, an indigenous, Iranian-speaking minority living in southern Azerbaijan and northern Iran.
Abilov’s work has long focused on the language and culture of the Talysh. He served as editor of the journal of the Talysh National Academy , which published research articles on the history and culture of the Talysh people. In June 2024, during a family visit to Azerbaijan, he was arrested.
According to Abilov’s lawyer , the prosecution’s main piece of evidence is a scholarly conversation via Skype Abilov had with Garnik Asatryan , a leading specialist in Iranian Studies based at Yerevan State University in Armenia, who also studied the culture of the Talysh people. Given the tense relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Azerbaijani authorities claimed the exchange suggested subversive activity.
The court proceedings were marked by a lack of transparency. Abilov was sentenced to 18 years in prison without the presentation of substantial evidence. The trial was held behind closed doors, and his family was not allowed to attend the sentencing .
One of the prosecution’s witnesses told reporters that the judge prevented him from testifying freely when he tried to speak in Abilov’s defense, addressing him in a dismissive and disrespectful manner. Moreover, the final hearings were conducted via Zoom – without public access or any form of legal oversight.
Following Abilov’s arrest, more than a dozen international initiatives and official statements have been issued in his defense, as documented on igbal.info. This includes a statement by American Historical Association , a campaign by Amnesty International , a joint campaign by Human Rights Watch, Freedom Now, FIDH, and many others.
After the announcement of his sentence, the advocacy group Scholars at Risk released a public appeal urging Azerbaijani authorities to release him immediately, calling the imprisonment wrongful. The General Rapporteur on Political Prisoners of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe also condemned the verdict, raising serious concerns over the political motivations behind the charges and the targeting of Abilov as a Talysh academic.
The case of Igbal Abilov was discussed during a U.S. Congress hearing (see especially timing 47:55) that addressed the arbitrary and unsubstantiated judicial persecutions practiced in Azerbaijan under Ilham Aliyev’s regime against human rights defenders, journalists and members of ethnic minorities.
In autumn 2024, while already imprisoned, Igbal Abilov’s short film Pieces won the Best Sci-Fi award at the Monza Film Festival in Italy. In a statement made from behind bars, Abilov dedicated the prize to all political prisoners in Azerbaijan – “regardless of whether freedom of speech and opinion is near or far”.
In his message from prison, shared after his sentencing, Igbal Abilov stated: “Noone should be deprived of their rights because of their gender, nationality, language, religion, or beliefs”. He urged those who stand in solidarity with him to “alwaysstayfreeandkeepsmiling–knowledgeandinnerfreedomarestrongerthananyGULAG”.
