AZERBAIJAN: First jailing of conscientious objector for three years
By Felix Corley
Forum18 (21.08.2025) – On 30 July, Yevlakh District Court jailed 19-year-old Jehovah’s Witness Elgiz Ibrahimov for one year for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. Officials arrested him in the courtroom. They took him to a high-security prison in Ganca, initially holding him in a cell with 40 other men and 10 beds. He has appealed. Zahid Oruj, chair of Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, appears to accept the criminal prosecution of conscientious objectors. He insisted that since no Alternative Service Law exists, “our judicial institutions have taken the right steps”.
For the first time in nearly three years, a court is known to have convicted and imprisoned a young man for conscientious objection to compulsory military service on religious grounds. On 30 July, Yevlakh District Court in central Azerbaijan jailed 19-year-old Jehovah’s Witness Elgiz Ibrahimov for one year in a general regime prison. He had told conscription officials of his readiness to perform alternative civilian service, but they handed his case to prosecutors for criminal prosecution.
“Despite receiving a written warning from the authorised body, he did not fulfil his sacred duty as a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan without a valid excuse or legal basis,” the verdict notes (see below).
Officials arrested Ibrahimov in the courtroom after the verdict was handed down. They took him to a high-security prison in Ganca where he was initially held in a cell with 40 other men. The cell had 10 beds. He was later transferred to a cell holding 28 other men (see below).
On 17 August, Ibrahimov’s lawyer appealed against his conviction to Sheki Appeal Court. No date has yet been set for a hearing (see below).
Officials at the State Service for Mobilisation and Conscription in Yevlakh did not answer the phone when Forum 18 called (see below).
Ahead of its accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001, Azerbaijan promised to adopt an Alternative Service Law “in compliance with European standards” by January 2003. It has never introduced any exemption from compulsory military service for men who have conscientious objections, despite repeated criticism from local human rights defenders and United Nations (UN) human rights bodies, as well as the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and its European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) (see below).
Jehovah’s Witnesses are conscientious objectors to military service and do not undertake any kind of activity supporting any country’s military. But they are willing to undertake an alternative, totally civilian form of service, as is the right of all conscientious objectors to military service under international human rights law.
Photo:Elgiz Ibrahimov credits: Jehovah’s Witnesses
