Former head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration and former president of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), Ramiz Mehdiyev, will be removed from the Security Council on charges of attempting to seize power. The court previously placed him under house arrest for four months.
APA reports, citing informed sources, that 87-year-old Mehdiyev, taking advantage of the period of tension in relations between Baku and Moscow, prepared a coup plan and proposed it to the Russian side through his own channels. The plan called for the creation of a temporary body – the State Council for the Transitional Period – which the politician was to personally lead. Mehdiyev also allegedly passed on to Russia information about future members of the State Council under his leadership.
According to APA, information about Mehdiyev's plan and his network was conveyed to Azerbaijan by the Russian side during a meeting between the two countries' presidents in Dushanbe.
In Baku, Mehdiyev was charged under Articles 278.1 (attempted seizure of power), 274 (high treason), and 193-1.3.2 (laundering of criminally obtained property) of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code. The court sentenced him to house arrest for four months.
Azerbaijani opposition journalist Afgan Mukhtarli commented on the criminal prosecution of the former head of the Presidential Administration, calling it logical and symbolic: "Ilham has arrested another of his slaves." According to Mukhtarli, Mehdiyev was also a "slave of the Russians," and the Azerbaijani president demonstrated that "there can only be one Russian in the country, and that is Ilham Aliyev."
In a commentary published by Minval Politika, political analyst Ilgar Velizade, head of the South Caucasus Political Scientists Club, called Mehdiyev's arrest "an unprecedented case in the modern history of Azerbaijan, in the country's political life"—as a figure of such stature had never previously been subjected to criminal prosecution. He noted that speculation is unacceptable, as it could lead to a more complex "external framework" for Baku.
"Of course, at various periods in modern Azerbaijani history, there have been people who, having openly joined the opposition, spoke out against the state and its leaders, and committed illegal acts. Such cases have been observed, but a person who embodied the country's administrative system for a long time and who continues to be a member of the ruling party, and holds positions of honor—this is unprecedented in the modern history of Azerbaijan. This demonstrates that the state and the rule of law know no bounds." "If a person is involved in any illegal actions, they must be held accountable for them, regardless of their past achievements and honors," the expert noted.
The political scientist also emphasized that in Azerbaijan in previous years, all questions and topics related to Ramiz Mehdiyev were completely taboo: "There was an unspoken rule: any criticism of him could lead to very serious consequences—removal from office and even criminal prosecution. This system had been in place for a long time, and it indicated that Mehdiyev himself, as head of the administration, had abused his position to create this system for himself."
In another article, Minval Politika noted that in February 2022, Mehdiyev announced his resignation as head of ANAS, but reappeared at the Academy on March 17. According to the publication, the purpose of this visit was to hold a meeting with representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was reported that in the summer of that year, Mehdiyev met with a group of former officials in Nokhmchkhany. The details of this meeting are unknown, but the publication notes that it coincided with another round of tensions between Baku and Moscow.
