As a result of complex measures taken by the State Security Service to prevent the subversive activities carried out by foreign special services against the security, national interests and benefits of Azerbaijan, there are reasonable suspicions that citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan – Mehdiyev Ramiz Anvar oglu, Abbasov Abbas Aydin oglu, Karimli Ali Amirhuseyn oglu and others committed actions aimed at forcibly seizing power and forcibly changing the constitutional structure of the state.
Elchi.az reports that the Press Service of the State Security Service has released information about this.
According to the indictment against the defendants in the criminal case, Abbasov Abbas Aydin oglu and Ibrahimbeyov Rustam Mammad Ibrahim oglu, who were the co-founders and leaders of the organization called the “Union of Billionaires”, which was created by the special services of a foreign country to interfere in the political processes in Azerbaijan and registered on July 4, 2012 in a foreign country under the name “Russian Organization of Azerbaijan Organizations”, as well as Mehdiyev Ramiz Anvar oglu, chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP) Karimli Ali Amirhuseyn oglu, party members – Gahramanli Fuad Ali oglu, Zayidov Ganimat Salim oglu and others conspired to forcibly seize state power and forcibly change the existing constitutional structure of the state.
Thus, after creating the organization “National Council of Democratic Forces” (National Council) in 2013, which nominated Rustam Ibrahimbeyov, a foreign citizen, as a candidate in the presidential elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan, with the financial assistance and other forms of organizational support of foreign special services, they committed mass riots to forcibly seize state power, failure to obey the legal demands of government officials, disruption of public order, transport, enterprises, institutions and organizations, and also took action to attract people from various regions of the republic for this purpose, through the member of the AXCP, Ibrahim Mammad Aziz oglu and others, they directed 933,828.40 manats of money, including funds obtained from Ramiz Mehdiyev and Abbas Abbasov, to commit the mentioned acts.
According to the technical evidence added to the materials of the criminal case, members of the organization called the “Union of Billionaires” were instructed to send Azerbaijani citizens working under their command or otherwise under their patronage in the foreign country where they live to Azerbaijan during the 2013 presidential elections, and to ensure that each of them involves their relatives and friends in Azerbaijan and uses them in rallies and mass riots in accordance with the instructions of the foreign special service.
It was revealed that, as a result of prior negotiations, in accordance with the wishes of the authorized persons of the relevant foreign state, the “National Council” requested support for its activities in a secret letter addressed to the leadership of this foreign state in 2013, and proposed to put pressure on the Azerbaijani state to implement the “reforms” carried out in that country in Azerbaijan.
According to the mentioned indictment, Ganimat Zayidov, starting from the beginning of 2013, secretly contacted representatives of the special services of a foreign country on behalf of Ali Karimli and asked for the use of the extensive organizational and special capabilities of foreign special services in bringing him to power in the Republic of Azerbaijan, in return, he promised to ensure the strategic interests of the foreign state in Azerbaijan by listing specific details, and the parties also agreed that if Ali Karimli comes to power, the Republic of Azerbaijan will become a full member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in stages.
At the same time, according to the indictment, Ali Karimli, continuing his criminal acts in accordance with the prior agreement with the aforementioned persons, when Azerbaijani citizens marched in Baku on the night of July 14-15, 2020, in support of the army and against the aggressive war waged by Armenia in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, Fuad Gahramanli and others were instructed to form small groups together with people representing the party, join the march participants, then replace patriotic slogans with provocative calls and create a chaotic situation, take advantage of this situation and control the crowd, seize the administrative buildings of the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan and “Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting” CJSC, including the media to announce the seizure of power.
In addition, in August-September 2025, Ramiz Mehdiyev presented to Ali Karimli on September 27, 2025, through his assistant Amirov Eldar Gurban oglu and others, a written material prepared in the relevant foreign language under the title “Proposals on the reconstruction of the state administration system”, which contains secret plans and directions of activity against the state authority, in order to jointly agree on the issues provided for in that document, and on October 3, 2025, he sent the final edited version of the mentioned writing to the senior officials of the special services of the foreign state with whom he had previously contacted personally through the employees of “Sharq-Qarb” CJSC, which he actually owns, and the mentioned shipment was technically recorded.
With these actions, Ramiz Mehdiyev committed actions aimed at seizing state power with the help of foreign special services and forcibly changing the constitutional structure, and betrayed the state by helping the representatives of the foreign state against the state security interests of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In addition, Ramiz Mehdiyev legalized more than 17,000,000 manats of money obtained through crime by October 13, 2025.
For their participation in the listed criminal acts, Abbas Abbasov, Ali Karimli, Fuad Gahramanli, Mammad Ibrahim and Ganimat Zayidov were charged under Articles 278.1 (actions aimed at forcibly seizing or forcibly retaining power, as well as forcibly changing the constitutional structure of the state), 32.5, 278.1 (assisting in actions aimed at forcibly seizing or forcibly retaining power, as well as forcibly changing the constitutional structure of the state), Ramiz Mehdiyev 193-1.3.2 (legalization of a large amount of property obtained through crime), 274 (treason) and 278.1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Since Abbas Abbasov, Fuad Gahramanli and Ganimat Zayidov are outside the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and are hiding from the investigation, a search warrant has been issued against them and a court has chosen a preventive measure of arrest in absentia.
Investigations into the criminal case are ongoing.