New Azerbaijan Party removes Ramiz Mehdiyev from its ranks

BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 16. The former Head of the Presidential Administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev, has been removed from the ranks of the New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), Trend reports.

The matter of his removal from membership was addressed today during the first meeting held following the 8th Congress of the NAP.

A decision was reached at the meeting to remove Mehdiyev from the ranks of the NAP, as well as from its Council of Veterans.

A criminal case was initiated against Mehdiyev by the State Security Service (SSS) in October 2025.

According to information released by the SSS, Azerbaijani citizens Ramiz Mehdiyev, Abbas Abbasov, and the chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), Ali Karimli, were detained by the SSS. This occurred as a result of comprehensive measures taken to prevent subversive and destructive activities carried out by foreign intelligence services against the security and national interests of Azerbaijan. According to the accusation, Abbas Abbasov and Rustam Ibrahimbeyov, who served as co-founders and leaders of an organization known as the "Union of Billionaires" (registered abroad on July 4, 2012, under the name "Union of Russian-Azerbaijani Organizations" and established by the special services of a foreign country to interfere in political processes in Azerbaijan), along with Mehdiyev, Karimli, party members Fuad Gahramanli and Ganimat Zayidov, and others, conspired to seize state power by force and to forcibly alter the existing constitutional order of the state.

Specifically, after establishing an organization called the "National Council of Democratic Forces" (National Council), which nominated Rustam Ibrahimbayov, a citizen of a foreign country, as a candidate for the 2013 presidential elections in Azerbaijan, they utilized funds totaling 933,828 manat, or $549,310 (received through individuals such as Mammad Ibrahim, a member of the AXCP, for the purpose of recruiting people from various districts of the country), as well as financial resources obtained from Mehdiyev and Abbasov, to orchestrate mass unrest aimed at the forcible seizure of state power. This activity involved inciting disobedience toward the lawful demands of government representatives, disrupting public order, and interfering with the operations of transport systems, enterprises, institutions, and organizations, all with the financial assistance and other forms of organizational support provided by foreign intelligence services. According to technical evidence added to the criminal case file, members of an organization dubbed the "Union of Billionaires" were instructed to send Azerbaijani citizens, who worked under them or were otherwise under their patronage in the foreign countries where they resided, to Azerbaijan during the 2013 presidential elections. They were tasked with ensuring that these individuals, by mobilizing their own relatives and close associates within Azerbaijan, would participate in rallies and mass unrest, in accordance with instructions provided by a foreign intelligence service.

According to the information, through these actions, Mehdiyev engaged in activities aimed at seizing state power with the assistance of foreign intelligence services and forcibly altering the constitutional order; furthermore, by providing aid to representatives of a foreign state, aid that ran counter to the national security interests of Azerbaijan, he committed high treason.

Additionally, Mehdiyev laundered funds exceeding 17 million manat ($10 million), which had been obtained through criminal means, during the period leading up to October 13, 2025. In connection with the aforementioned acts, Mehdiyev has been charged under Articles 193-1.3.2 (legalization of a significant amount of property obtained through criminal means), 274 (high treason), and 278.1 of the Criminal Code.