New details have emerged in the case of the murder of the Azerbaijani opposition figure
Azerbaijani opposition figure dies after brutal attack in France (photo: bbc.com)
Azerbaijani political émigré Vidadi Iskanderli sustained over 20 stab wounds at his home, inflicted by unknown assailants. On Tuesday, he passed away in the hospital, according to the BBC.
On the morning of September 29, three unidentified individuals broke into Vidadi Iskanderli's house in the city of Mulhouse, eastern France. They stabbed him more than 20 times, damaging his liver and lung.
Vidadi was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, where he succumbed to his injuries two days later.
The Mulhouse police are conducting an investigation.
Ali Oguz, a well-known opposition blogger and host of the YouTube channel Oguz TV, drew attention in his broadcast to the recent statements made by Vidadi Iskanderli just before his death.
According to Oguz, Iskanderli had been exposing the criminal activities of prominent Azerbaijani oligarch Anar Alizade in his blogging.
Numerous investigations in international media outlets have highlighted Alizade's connections to Russian intelligence services, his companies’ involvement in the "shadow fleet of Russia," and his links to drug trafficking in Bodrum. Alizade is known to own the most luxurious marina in Bodrum-Yalikavak.
Oguz claims that Alizade, through Fuad Aghayev, who received political asylum in Switzerland in the early 2000s, had threatened Iskanderli and demanded he stop his criticism. Aghayev, a former disgraced Azerbaijani intelligence officer, had lived in Russia for several years, working closely with Russian oil traders.
According to the Turkish publication Hocali Haber, Turkish law enforcement suspected Fuad Aghayev of organizing the poisoning and subsequent murder of well-known Azerbaijani public figure Sevinj Babaeva in Istanbul in 2012. At the time, Aghayev was in Istanbul but fled the country shortly after Babaeva’s death.
According to Oguz, Aghayev is embedded in the political émigré network. Also in a live broadcast on his channel, the journalist aired a recent speech by Iskanderli in which he expressed fears for his life, claiming he was being followed. In these statements, Iskanderli called Aghayev a henchman of Alizade's orders.
It is worth noting that Iskanderli openly supported Turkish oligarch Mubariz Mansimov, who had been engaged in an unequal battle with the pro-Russian faction of Anar Alizade. Alizade allegedly seized much of Mansimov's property in Turkey through hostile takeovers.
Neither Anar Alizade nor Fuad Aghayev has commented on the accusations made by the opposition Azerbaijani blogger or expressed any position regarding Iskanderli’s murder.
