Mohyaddin Orujov, a member of the “Workers’ Table” Confederation of Trade Unions, was sentenced to three years in prison on February 25, 2025, by the Baku Court for Serious Crimes. The 24-year-old activist had been arrested on December 13, 2023, and initially placed in pretrial detention by the Surakhani District Court under Article 234.4.3 of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, which concerns the illegal preparation, acquisition, storage, transport, or sale of large quantities of narcotics or psychotropic substances.
Although the original indictment included allegations of intent to sell drugs, the final verdict excluded this element. At a hearing held on February 18, 2025, the prosecutor had claimed that the intent to sell had been proven and requested a seven-year prison sentence.
In court, Orucov denied any involvement with the drugs shown in police video footage, stating, “The narcotic substance in the footage does not belong to me.” He argued that his arrest was politically motivated and retaliatory. According to Orucov, he was first sentenced to one month of administrative detention in October 2023 after he complained about labor rights violations at the transformer factory where he worked as a warehouseman. Following his release, he publicly described instances of police violence at Surakhani’s 32nd Police Department. He claims that this led to his being falsely charged and subjected to long-term imprisonment, allegedly due to collaboration between the police and his former employer’s management.
Footage presented during the trial raised further questions, as the time of arrest listed in the police protocol—around 13:00—did not match the actual time in the video, which was approximately 19:00. His lawyer, Nazim Musayev, brought this inconsistency to the attention of the court, but all motions submitted by the defense were rejected.
Orujov’s health has also become a matter of concern. According to his mother, Tarana Orujova, his kidney condition has worsened while in detention. She said, “My son’s health is in poor condition. This week, his pain intensified, and he was given painkiller injections. The doctor said they had already discovered ‘crystals’ in his kidneys during an earlier check-up, but it had been concealed. This morning, he had another attack. They are playing with human lives. Give me back my son so we can treat him ourselves—they are destroying my young boy.”
She also noted that one of his kidneys is enlarged and the other contains kidney crystals—conditions that allegedly began after he was subjected to police violence during his initial arrest in 2023.
The “Workers’ Table” Confederation of Trade Unions has condemned the criminal charges and the verdict, calling them fabricated and politically driven. “We followed the entire trial process closely for almost a year. Despite the lawyer presenting dozens of pieces of evidence that the charges were false, all motions were dismissed. Möhyəddin said he no longer expects justice and views the court as a form of theater,” said Tural Fərzili, a board member of the confederation, in an interview with Voice of America.
Several other members of the “Workers’ Table” Confederation are also imprisoned. On August 1, 2023, the confederation and the Courier Union held a protest against the mass impoundment of couriers’ mopeds. That same day, the confederation’s chairman, Afiyəddin Məmmədov, was sentenced to 30 days of administrative detention for allegedly resisting police and committing petty hooliganism. After his release, he was re-arrested and charged under Articles 126.2.4 (intentional infliction of serious bodily harm with hooligan intent) and 221.3 (hooliganism involving use of an object as a weapon), resulting in an eight-year prison sentence announced on January 14, 2025.
Other confederation members, Elvin Mustafayev and Ayxan Israfilov, were both arrested in early August 2023 on drug-related charges and each sentenced to three years in prison by the Baku Court for Serious Crimes.
All of the detained activists maintain that the charges are fabricated and that they were targeted because of their efforts to protect workers’ rights and their protests against injustice in the country. The Azerbaijani government rejects these claims and maintains that no one is persecuted for their political views, asserting that all fundamental rights are fully upheld.