Akram AYLISLI

Writer, poet, and playwright Akram Aylisli continued to face charges of resisting the authorities with violence under Article 315.1 of the Criminal Code, which provides for up to three years in prison (see Case Lists 2022 – 2023/2024). The alleged incident took place on 30 March 2016, when Akram Aylisli was detained at Heydar Aliyev airport in Baku, as he attempted to travel to Italy where he was due to speak at a literary festival. A young border official accused Aylisli of having punched him in the chest hard enough to bruise. Aylisli stated that the alleged punch was used as justification to deny him the right to leave the country.  

 Shortly after being detained, Aylisli signed a document compelling him to remain in Baku, thereby subjecting him to a local and international travel ban. Since then, he has been unable to attend scores of cultural and literary events and to promote his books. As part of the investigation, the Prosecutor General’s office confiscated Aylisli’s identity documents, which prevents him from accessing health care services. He is said to suffer from chronic bronchitis, heart and liver failure and remains in need of medical care. The case was ongoing as of 31 December 2024.  

Akram Aylisli, born on 6 December 1937, has for years faced harassment by the Azerbaijani authorities in connection with his writings. His 2013 novel, Stone Dreams, part of a trilogy including Yemen and A Fantastical Traffic Jam, tackles the tense issue of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations and includes depictions of pogroms allegedly carried out by Azerbaijanis against Armenians in 1990. After the novel was published, Aylisli was stripped of his titles and medals and the president signed a decree stripping him of his presidential pension; his books were also burnt. He was branded an apostate, and expelled from the Union of Azerbaijani Writers while people organised rallies against him. His books were withdrawn from the school curriculum and his plays were banned. An English translation by Katherine E. Young of his first book, People and Trees: A Trilogy, originally published in Russian in the 1970s, was published in November 2024.