Wednesday 10th May saw a Rennes court find nine Azerbaijani citizens guilty of attempting to murder an exiled blogger.
Mahammad Mirzali was attacked in Nantes in March 2021, in what was described as an attempted beheading. By May 26th this year, a trial was under way.
Main suspect Emin Gasimov was sentenced to 30 years in prison. His eight accomplices were given smaller sentences ranging from five to 15 years in prison, with all now subject to a lifetime ban from entering France.
According to Gasimov, Mirzali cursed “national values, national mentality, and statehood” and at least one of two women who could be identified as his mother.
Gasimov’s co-attackers, Rovshan Gojayev and Mehraj Zarbaliev, received 25- and 18-year sentences respectively. Gojayev was sentenced in absentia and is wanted by Interpol. Two others were sentenced to 15 and 13 years respectively after being found guilty of assisting in the plot, with the final sentence three defendants receiving sentences of up to five years imprisonment.
Faig Pashazada was the sole suspect acquitted, on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
In the build-up to the 2021 attack, Pashazada housed Gasimov, Gojayev, and Zarbaliev in Hungary, where he is alleged to have helped them create fake passports.
The investigation found that a criminal case in Hungary had been opened against Pashazada, after which he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for robbery.
A refugee in France since 2016, Mirzali also claimed that Gojayev is being held in Azerbaijan where he “has not been sentenced to prison, and there is no information about him.” The targeted ‘Made in Azerbaijan’ YouTube vlogger alleges the involvement of the Azerbaijani state in the campaign against him:
I also almost died on 14 March 2021, because I don’t live like an ordinary person. Since May 2021, I’ve been under 24/7 police protection and can’t trust anyone. I live a half-life.
