The accused of terrorism were sentenced in Baku to long terms.
The court in Baku sentenced eight citizens of Azerbaijan to prison terms ranging from 8.5 to 13 years, recognizing them as participants in a terrorist organization.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in May 2025, the State Security Service of Azerbaijan announced that citizens of Azerbaijan Vugar Najafli, Jamal Gezalov, Tofiq Yusifli, and Dadash Gashimov were arrested in Baku after being brought from Pakistan.
According to the security forces, these four individuals left Azerbaijan in 2024 and, hiding in the mountainous regions of Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, participated "in combat training and armed conflicts as part of an international terrorist organization. Two other citizens of Azerbaijan - Mir Javad Huseynli and Tural Aghayev - are alleged to have financed the activities of the militants. All six were charged with financing terrorism and participating in armed conflicts based on religious enmity outside Azerbaijan.
The Baku Serious Crimes Court sentenced Vugar Najafli and Jamal Gezalov to 9.5 years in prison, Tofiq Yusifli and Dadash Gashimov to 8.5 years, Mir Javad Huseynli to 12.5 years, and Tural Aghayev to 13 years in prison, reports haqqin.az today.
The seventh defendant, Muhammad Huseynli, was sentenced to 13 years, and another defendant, Mushfig Gashimov, to 10 years, the agency writes.
According to the court, citizens of Azerbaijan Vugar Najafli, Jamal Gezalov, Tofiq Yusifli, and Dadash Gashimov left Azerbaijan in 2024 and hid in the mountains on the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan. They participated in combat training and armed conflicts "as part of an international terrorist organization outside Azerbaijan" and underwent armed training.
"It has been established that the terrorist activities of Tofiq Yusifli and Dadash Gashimov were financed by citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mir Javad Huseynli and Tural Aghayev, and other criminal acts of the latter have also been identified," the publication states.
This same information about the sentence was published today by the APA agency. The publications do not specify what actions were attributed to Muhammad Huseynli and Mushfig Gashimov.
Recall that in February 2025, in the Gusar district of Azerbaijan, which is located in the north of the country and borders Russia, security forces killed eight alleged members of the terrorist organization "Forest Brothers", and six others were arrested. The neutralized group could have been a "sleeper cell", suggested an analyst.
Earlier, Azerbaijani political scientists reported an increase in terrorist threats in the country. Extremists in Azerbaijan are managed by serious centers from abroad, which do not lack funding, noted, in particular, Tofiq Turkel.