Court Finds Prosecutor General’s Office Failed to Investigate Jailed Economist Fazil Gasimov’s Forgery Allegations

The Sabail District Court has ruled that the Prosecutor General’s Office acted unlawfully by failing to properly investigate complaints filed by imprisoned economist Fazil Gasimov concerning alleged document forgery and violations of his right to legal defence.

In a decision issued on July 30, the court ordered prosecutors to conduct a full, comprehensive, and objective investigation into Gasimov’s allegations that a document allegedly bearing his signature and waiving his defence lawyers had been forged.

Gasimov maintains that he never signed the September 2023 document used to remove his lawyers from the case. An expert opinion issued by the Alternative Expertise Centre concluded that the disputed signature had been made by another person, a finding the court described as significant new evidence.

The court found that the Prosecutor General’s Office had responded only formally to Gasimov’s complaints and had failed to examine the substance of his allegations. It also noted that prosecutors did not provide evidence demonstrating that any meaningful investigation had been carried out.

Gasimov, who was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment in 2025, has consistently rejected the charges against him, describing them as politically motivated. He has also alleged that investigators used violence and coercion to force him to testify against economist Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu, before later retracting that testimony.

While the ruling does not affect Gasimov’s conviction, it obliges the Prosecutor General’s Office to investigate claims that evidence in his case was falsified and that his fundamental right to legal defence may have been violated.