The assassination of Vidadi Isgandarli, a well-known Azerbaijani political activist who had been in exile in France for some time, is shrouded in mystery. The 62-year-old man was beaten and stabbed at least 21 times last Sunday in his apartment: he died on Tuesday 1st October in hospital.
Isgandarli was known for challenging the dictatorial regime of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who has been in power since 2003. His dissidence led to a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence in 2011 for several crimes, including assault and interference in electoral processes. After a year behind bars he was released from prison thanks to an amnesty.
Then the decision to move in 2015 for fear of ending up once again in the sights of the Azerbaijani authorities. The man had chosen France as a place of exile, where he continued his dissident activity thanks to his YouTube channel.
According to his family, who reported the killing of the dissident, it was a “politically motivated assassination”. Isgandarli is the fourth political opponent of Aliyev murdered in exile since 2021, after Bairam Mammedov, Vuqar Rza and Hüseyn Bakikhanov, killed in Türkiye, Belgium and Georgia respectively. The political activist, killed with 21 blows, had already survived an assassination attempt in 2022.
