The trial has concluded in a criminal case opened by the State Security Service (SSS) against Vugar Najafli, Jamal Gozalov, Tofiq Yusifli, Dadash Hashimov, Mahammad Huseynli, Mushfig Hashimov, Mir Javad Huseynli and Tural Aghayev, who were accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist group.
Judge Namiq Karimov presided over the hearing at Baku Court of Grave Crimes, where the verdict was announced, Operative Information Center-OMM reports.
The court sentenced Vugar Najafli and Jamal Gozalov to nine years and six months in prison each; Tofiq Yusifli and Dadash Hashimov to eight years and six months each; Mahammad Huseynli to 13 years; Mushfig Hashimov to 10 years; Mir Javad Huseynli to 12 years and six months; and Tural Aghayev to 13 years.
Investigators established that Azerbaijani citizens Vugar Najafli, Jamal Gozalov, Tofiq Yusifli and Dadash Hashimov, members of a group formed to commit terrorist crimes, left Azerbaijan in 2024 and went into hiding in mountainous areas of Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan.
They were found to have taken part in combat training and armed conflicts outside Azerbaijan as members of an international terrorist organization, and to have undergone armed training for criminal purposes.
As a result of joint operational measures by the SSS and partner foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the individuals under investigation were detained in foreign countries and brought to Azerbaijan.
Measures also revealed that Tofiq Yusifli’s and Dadash Hashimov’s terrorist activities were financed by Azerbaijani citizens Mir Javad Huseynli and Tural Aghayev, and that the latter had committed other criminal acts.
Members of the group Vugar Najafli, Jamal Gozalov, Tofiq Yusifli, Dadash Hashimov, Mir Javad Huseynli and Tural Aghayev were charged under Articles 214-1 (financing terrorism), 218.2 (participation in a criminal association or organization, or in an association of organizers, leaders or other representatives of organized groups) and 283-1.3 (participation in stable groups, training or armed conflicts formed outside the Republic of Azerbaijan on religious hostility grounds, under the pretext of disseminating religious sects or performing religious rites) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The court ordered their pre-trial detention.
