UKRAINE, KHARKIV — On Aug. 6, the Kharkiv Oblast Court of Appeals ordered Bahruz Gasanli, an Azerbaijani opposition figure and citizen of Azerbaijan, to be held in custody for 40 days, reported Gwara journalist from the courtroom.
Gasanli was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement on Jul. 27 on the basis of an Interpol Red Notice that requested to locate and provisionally arrest a person before extradition.
Azerbaijani prosecutors accuse Gasanli of fraud. According to case materials, he allegedly misappropriated nearly $35,000 (60,000 Azerbaijani manats) from his business partner in 2021.
On July 30, the Shevchenkivskyi district court of Kharkiv placed Gasanli under nighttime house arrest, releasing from custody. Prosecutor Yevhen Maslovskyi appealed the decision, asking the court to remand the Azerbaijani opposition figure in custody. At the same time, Gasanli’s lawyers asked the court to overturn the decision authorizing his temporary arrest.
The Court of Appeals granted the prosecutor’s appeal, while overturning the appeals of the defense.
Gasanli’s case is connected to the persecution against the leaders of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), the country’s democratic opposition party, the leaders of which were arrested in 2025.
“Extraditiing person like this to Azerbaijan on the basis of politically motivated accusations could cause a serious threat to his freedom, safety, and fundamental human rights,” the National Сouncil of Democratic Forces said.
Is this case political?
In 2026, The Human Rights Watch, international nongovernmental human rights organization, reported that Azerbaijani courts opened numerous cases against the opposition figures living abroad.
“Foreign governments should refuse to act on politically motivated requests lacking credible evidence of ordinary criminal conduct and take steps to protect residents and refugees from intimidation, harassment, and irregular transfers,” Human Rights Watch said in its statement.
Previously Bahruz Gasanali voluntarily served as security aide to Ali Karimli, the leader of APFP and one of the key figures in Azerbaijani opposition.
Currently, Karimli is brought before trial in Baku. On Jun. 10, 2025, Azerbaijani court charged him with an attempted coup. There is still no final verdict in the case but Karimli’s lawyers said that he could face from 12 to 20 years in prison if convicted.
According to Zmina, Ukrainian human rights organization, Azerbaijani officials accuse Gasanli of allegedly receiving $850,000 from unidentified individuals and transferring the money to Karimli for the purpose of organising a coup.
Hovewer, this case is formally unrelated to his detention in Ukraine, where he is accused of fraud.
Hearing in Kharkiv
During the hearing, Gasanli’s lawyers argued that the prosecutor hadn’t provided the documents required to impose his temporary arrest.
Oleh Maksymenko, one of the lawyers, said that the prosecutors’ motion didn’t include Azerbaijan’s actual request for Gasanli’s arrest.
According to him, the case file contained only a letter from the Department of International Police Cooperation. The letter reads that a request for arrest had been received from Azerbaijan’s law enforcement on Jul. 13. The request itself, the lawyer said, wasn’t included in the case materials.
The defense also questioned the documents concerning the preventive measure imposed on Gasanli in Azerbaijan. The lawyer said that the prosecutor had initially submitted an Azerbaijani court ruling without translation and later provided a copy with a translation certified by the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office.
Gasanli’s lawyers say that this was insufficient because the European Convention on Extradition requires additional documents, such as an authenticated copy of the conviction or sentence.
The defense also concerned whether Interpol red notice was still active. The lawyer said that the information from the database of Interpol, submitted to the court, had last been updated on Apr. 2026. He said that the prosecutor had provided no confirmation that Gasanli remained internationally wanted after that date.
The defense also insisted that Gasanli could face political persecution in Azerbaijan.
The attorney informed the court that on Aug. 4, Gasanli filed an application for refugee status or subsidiary protection in Ukraine.
According to the defense, he attached more than 150 pages of documents to his application, which, in the attorneys’ opinion, confirms political persecution. In the preliminary ruling by trial court, these arguments were not upheld.
In the trial court, the judge argued that, after arriving in Ukraine, Gasanli did not apply for refugee status but instead received an immigration permit and a permanent residence permit. The court also pointed out that the defense had not provided a translation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) ruling to which it referred as a proof that Gasanli is politically persecuted.
Prosecution said that the documents regarding the international search for Gasanli and the Azerbaijani court’s ruling had been provided, while the other necessary documents from Azerbaijan were still being finalized.
The prosecutor also informed the court that Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies had already notified the Ukrainian side of the request and, as a first step, had sent a copy of the arrest warrant issued by the Azerbaijani court. The other documents, he said, are expected to arrive and be translated.
Will Ukraine extredit Gasanli?
At this time, no decision has been made regarding Gasanli’s extradition. The Court of Appeals considered only that the man should remain in custody until an official extradition request is received from Azerbaijan.
The court ordered that Gasalni be immediately taken into custody at the Kharkiv Pretrial Detention Center for a period of up to 40 days. His pretrial detention will start from his arrest.
Gasanli opposes extradition and has previously refused to undergo the simplified extradition procedure. For extradition, the Ukrainian side must review Azerbaijan’s request and the arguments regarding the potential risks to the man should he be returned.
Did Ukraine extradite other Azerbaijanis?
While Gasanli was listening to the court’s verdict, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, held a meeting with Jiehun Bayramov, Azerbaijan’s minister of foreign affairs.
“Ukraine is trying to play games with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev,” said Leonid Shvets, the political columnist who follows Gasanli’s case.
Ukraine has assisted Azerbaijan in prosecuting political opponents for almost a decade. On Oct. 14, 2017, Ukraine detained and deported Fikret Huseynli, a journalist who had political asylum in the Netherlands, in Kyiv airport. Azerbaijan’s authorities initiated an international search for him on charges of fraud and illegal border crossing. Huseynli rejected these charges.
Two years later, in 2019, Ukraine detained and deported to Azerbaijan Elvin Isayev, opposition blogger. Azerbaijani authorities accused him of public calls against the state and “mass riots.”
Vladimir Kravchenko, an international policy columnist, suggested that Kyiv’s decision was intended to create favorable conditions in its diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan.
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