Rights defenders link Eldar Gasanov's persecution with his political ambitions

The charges brought against Eldar Gasanov are unconvincing; the real reason for his arrest was the active work to build up his political influence, the rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Eldar Gasanov, a former Azerbaijani Ambassador to Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been under arrest since August 2020 in connection with the case initiated against officials of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) suspected of abuses, bribe-taking and embezzling budget money.

In the opinion of Elshan Gasanov, the head of the Centre for Monitoring Political Prisoners, the accusations of embezzling budgetary funds (in the case of Eldar Gasanov) look unconvincing. "For many years of work as an ambassador to European countries, he had surely established a good business there and could hardly covet some small funds from the embassy's budget," Elshan Gasanov has noted.

Arif Mamedov, a former head of Azerbaijan's missions to the EU and the Council of Europe, also doubts the truthfulness of the charges against Gasanov. He drew attention to the fact that Gasanov, after his resignation from the post of the public prosecutor general, was sent into some sort of "honourable exile" as an ambassador, but he was not happy with his diplomatic post and developed international political and business ties.

In Mamedov's opinion, the Azerbaijani political leadership was alarmed by Eldar Gasanov's stormy international activities and his contacts in the Kremlin circles. Besides, after working for a long time in leading positions at the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), Gasanov, most probably, had some support in Azerbaijani security structures. "Therefore, in case of force majeure, Gasanov could become a dangerous figure for the ruling regime. It is likely that he was simply neutralized preventively," Mr Mamedov has suggested.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 16, 2021 at 08:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.