Exiled Azerbaijani activist Vidadi Isgandarli has died after a knife attack in France

Exiled Azerbaijani human rights activist Vidadi Isgandarli has died in hospital after suffering multiple stab wounds in his office in France.

Isgandarli was attacked by three unknown assailants in his office in Mulhouse, France, on Sunday. After suffering multiple stab wounds, he was taken to a local hospital and placed in intensive care.

“His lungs and liver were injured, which was crucial for his health.” Most of the knife attacks hit his stomach,” said Isgandarli’s brother Ogtay Isgandarli OC Media.

Ogtay Isgandarli, also a political refugee in France, was able to speak to his brother in hospital before his death.

[Read more: Azerbaijani human rights activist stabbed at home in France]

‘He [Vidadi Isgandarli] said two men held him by his arms and one stabbed him. He was stabbed in his office, not his home. He used this place for his work, and when he decided to participate in live streams, he used this place. Sometimes, after work, when it was late, Isgandarli preferred to stay there.’

Ogtay Isgandarli noted that this was the second attack on his brother since his stay in France. He added that his brother could not identify the nationality of his attackers.

“The first time was in 2022, in the summer months.” That night he was attacked by a criminal group and later he told me that it was a Russian or French group. But this time he said that during the attack he asked them why they stabbed him and what they asked him to do, but they didn’t answer,” he said OC Media.

After the first attack, Ogtay Isgandarli went to the local police station and asked them to take his brother to a safer area.

“They referred me to the agency that works with political refugees.” They promised that his place of residence would be changed. And I planned to make a request to the government to implement this change. I didn’t expect him to die…’

“In this building, it is very easy to break the glass and enter the room.” I believe that they followed him because he mainly stayed at home with his family members. It wasn’t until he was live streaming that he used this other location to protect his family members from danger. He locked the front door every evening.’

Threatened in exile

Before moving to France, the brothers worked in the human rights field in Georgia.

“In 2017 we were in Georgia and Vidadi was living in Georgia as a political refugee. Many times I joined him in Georgia and we participated in the protests in front of him [Georgian] Parliament. When [Azerbaijani journalist] Afgan Mukhtarli was kidnapped, international organizations called us and offered to help us leave Georgia because they said they were unable to ensure our safety.

Mukhtarli, a well-known journalist known for his research into corruption in Azerbaijan, disappeared from the streets of Tbilisi on the night of May 29, 2017. A day later he reappeared in Azerbaijani custody and was charged with illegally crossing the border.

Following this warning, the two brothers emigrated to France. Although he was in Europe, Ogtay Isgandarli said he urged his brother to be careful and that this was “not the end.”

“The Interior Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office made a request for the extradition of Vidadi Isgandarli, but the French government rejected the request,” Ogtay Isgandarli said OC Media. He added that the file on his brother’s extradition request was kept at home.

Isgandarli was known for his harsh and emotional criticisms of the government, as well as the use of profanity in his content.

“I was outraged by the way he spoke and his harsh interpretation.” I discussed this situation with him many times and he told me: “Do you think? [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev rules the country according to an ethical code of conduct, so I have to display proper manners?”‘, an Azerbaijani human rights defender who agreed to speak with him OC Media said on condition of anonymity.

In March, former Azerbaijani presidential candidate and current MP Zahid Oruj threatened political refugees in a parliamentary speech, claiming they had tarnished Aliyev’s honor.

“The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, adopted in 1951, cannot grant these people immunity. If the mechanisms of the judiciary and judicial authorities do not work to protect the honor and dignity of the President, then these are the laboratories of insults [referring to the activities of political refugees] “Should be declared open to all types of neutralization as legitimate goals,” Oruj said.