Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 2, 2026
2 min readLast updated: April 2, 2026
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Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court on April 2, 2026 rejected the appeal of opposition figure Tofig Yagublu against his nine‑year prison sentence for fraud and document forgery, a decision his legal team says was improperly handled and will be taken to the European Court of Human Rights.
BAKU, April 2 (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan on Thursday rejected an appeal by a prominent opposition politician who is serving a nine-year prison sentence, his lawyer told Reuters.
Tofig Yagublu, 65, is a member of the opposition Musavat party and has been jailed numerous times over three decades for protesting against the government of the South Caucasus country.
Yagublu was arrested in December 2023 and convicted in March last year of fraud and document forgery. His supporters say the case is politically motivated, while the authorities maintain he was rightly convicted of crimes.
His lawyer, Nemat Karimli, said the original trial was marred by serious procedural violations, and the defence plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Oil-producing Azerbaijan has come under criticism from the West for its human rights record following a string of arrests of independent journalists and political activists in recent years.
Baku rejects the criticism and says calls by Western diplomats for the release of those detained amount to interference in its judicial system.
(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Tofig Yagublu is a member of Azerbaijan's opposition Musavat party and has been jailed multiple times over three decades.
He was convicted of fraud and document forgery in March last year.
He is serving a nine-year prison sentence.
His lawyers plan to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Azerbaijan rejects the criticism, calling it interference in its judicial system.
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