This material is part of a partnership with OC Media. You can read the original English version here.
Gahraman Mammadov, the former senior assistant military attaché of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces to the United States, has been sentenced by the Baku Military Court to six years in prison for smuggling. He was initially arrested by the State Security Service (DTX) in November 2024 in Istanbul, where 70 kilograms of gold bars were found in his possession.
According to the pro-government media outlet Qafqazinfo, the value of the gold seized from Mammadov at Istanbul airport exceeded 10.3 million manats ($6 million). The publication reported that the gold was being smuggled between various countries.
As reported by Radio Liberty, Mammadov contested the charges against him, calling them “groundless.”
He also objected to being tried in Baku for a crime allegedly committed outside of Azerbaijan.
According to the indictment, Mammadov claimed he arrived in Turkey from the US on 22 November 2024.
“In Istanbul, he arranged a meeting with another Azerbaijani, Anar Gasimov. On the same day, Gasimov arrived from the United Arab Emirates and left a bag containing gold bars he had brought in a storage locker outside the airport’s customs checkpoint,” Radio Liberty reported.
Mammadov, using his diplomatic passport, failed to declare the gold and was subsequently detained by law enforcement while traveling by taxi to meet Gasimov at a hotel in Istanbul.
Radio Liberty writes that, according to the indictment, another bag containing 14 kg of gold bars that had not passed customs control was found in the airport storage locker.
Human rights activist Yalchin Imanov criticized Monday’s decision to sentence Mammadov to six years in prison, comparing it to the sentences handed down to employees of the independent media outlet AbzasMedia, who received between seven and a half and nine years.
“Domestic legislation guarantees equal rights and freedoms for all and prohibits the restriction of human and civil rights, including the rights of political or other groups,” he told OC Media.
“However, given the scale of the smuggling, the former state official and employee received a more lenient sentence. In other words, this is a clear example of a discriminatory state that discriminates against its citizens based on their political views and affiliations, which is prohibited by both Azerbaijan’s domestic law and international conventions to which Azerbaijan is a party, specifically Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.”
