The ECHR drew attention to the case of an Azerbaijani resident who alleged torture.

The European Court of Human Rights has begun communication on the high-profile case in Azerbaijan of Ilkin Suleymanov, convicted of the murder of a 10-year-old girl. According to the defense, Suleymanov did not commit the crime.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," the charred body of a 10-year-old girl was found on January 6, 2020, in a village in the Tovuz district, 43 days after her disappearance. Local resident Ilkin Suleymanov, who first reported the discovery of the body, was detained on suspicion of murder. In court, Suleymanov maintained his innocence, explaining that he confessed under torture. On June 5, 2023, the court sentenced him to 18 years in prison. On July 31, 2024, the Ganja Court of Appeal rejected Ilkin Suleimanov's appeal against the verdict.

Suleimanov filed a complaint with the ECHR, lawyer Fariz Namazly told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. On February 3, he received notice from the Strasbourg court that communication had begun on Suleymanov's complaint regarding the unlawfulness of his pretrial detention.

According to Namazly, Suleymanov complained of unjustified arrest with multiple extensions, detention from January 6 to 10, 2020, without a court decision, and inhumane treatment during this period. The complaint points to a violation of Suleimanov’s presumption of innocence in a joint statement from the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General’s Office after his arrest.

The lawyer noted that the ECHR sent questions to the Azerbaijani government regarding the violation of Suleymanov's rights under Articles 3 (prohibition of torture), 5.1 (right to liberty and security of person), 5.3 (right to release pending trial conditioned by guarantees to appear in court), 5.4 (right to a speedy review by a court of the lawfulness of a person's detention), 6.2 (presumption of innocence), 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to the lawyer, the courts in Azerbaijan did not take into account numerous procedural violations in Suleymanov's case and the lack of reliable evidence of his guilt.

"For four days after his arrest, he was held in custody without a court decision. During this time and for 10 days afterwards, he was not allowed to see a lawyer of his choice. He complained of torture, psychological pressure with the aim of "coercion of a confession. Furthermore, during the search of Suleimanov's house, no evidence was found that he had illegally detained the girl for 43 days in that location," Namazly said.

He noted that in December 2025, the Supreme Court rejected Suleimanov's cassation appeal and a separate complaint on the merits of the case will be filed with the ECHR.

"The case of the girl's disappearance caused a stir in society and also attracted the attention of the country's leadership. An order was given to urgently investigate and solve this crime. And it was important for the security forces to find and punish someone for it. Suleimanov was apparently chosen as a target because he was the first to discover the girl's charred body on the outskirts of the village and reported it to the police. The villagers spoke out in Suleimanov's defense and held a protest because they were confident of his innocence," an activist, not who wished to publish his name.

The investigation's version of the Suleimanov case appears unreliable, Elshan Gasanov, head of the Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners, stated earlier.

"There are many strange and implausible things in this case. It is alleged that Suleimanov kidnapped and killed his neighbor's daughter "out of envy of his former classmate." They say Suleimanov had no family or children, and he was envious of his classmate. However, Suleimanov, a graduate of a Moscow university, was a respected teacher at a rural school. In the first days after the girl's disappearance, police came to the village and conducted a search, including Suleimanov's house. But they found nothing suspicious. If the girl had been there, the police would have found her," Gasanov said.

As a reminder, in May 2022, freelance journalist Ayten Mamedova, who was covering the murder of a girl in the Tovuz district, was attacked in Baku. The man who attacked the journalist with a knife threatened her and her daughter, the victim said, linking the attack to her coverage of the high-profile case.