Azerbaijan - December 2025

Police in Baku raided a club on 27 December frequented by the LGBTQIA+ community and arrested 106 individuals. Those arrested were subjected by police to physical and psychological abuse and extortion. Several also reported being threatened with sexual assault. LGBTQIA+ advocates said the arrests were intended to exert control over social groups that are seen as outside the norms of mainstream Azerbaijani society. Police said the raid was in response to allegations of drug use, but police did not report discovering any narcotics. Those detained were sentenced to 15 to 30 days of administrative detention or fined for offenses such as smoking indoors. A raid similar in kind and scale was carried out in 2017, and a case at the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of its victims was dismissed by the Court in 2024 after the Azerbaijani government admitted guilt, agreed to pay damages, and pledged reforms. 

Sources: Caucasian Knot, Jam News, Human Rights Watch

The law ‘On the Internal Troops of the Republic of Azerbaijan,’ approved by the Milli Majlis (National Assembly) on 9 December, transferred the direct control of the Internal Troops from the Ministry of the Interior to President Ilham Aliyev. President Aliyev signed the law on 25 December. The Troops are responsible for internal security and public order in the country and are a military, rather than police, body. The new law grants the Internal Troops the authority to arrest and detain suspects and investigate crimes, disperse demonstrations with force, and expands the list of situations where they may use lethal and non-lethal force. The changes further centralize power in the hands of the president and, critics say, provide the president with a personal police force that can be used to violently put down protests or any other internal challenges to his authority. Government officials dismissed these concerns, saying the changes are part of ‘necessary modernizations’ of the country’s security forces.

Sources; Jam News, Report.az, Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan