Ogtay Gulaliyev
Ogtay Gulaliyev (born June 27, 1970) is an Azerbaijani human rights activist and founder of the Kur Civic Society, which helps people affected by environmental disasters.
He studied law at the Academy of State Service under the Presidential Administration and graduated in 1998. In 2010 he began his human rights work after meeting flood victims in the Sabirabad region and led the civil society group Kura to defend people affected by floods along the Kura and Arax rivers.
In April 2012 he was arrested at a meeting in Sabirabad. He faced charges that included inciting mass riots and disobeying police orders, later described as active resistance to authorities. Gulaliyev said he was beaten in custody, and a prison doctor later advised surgery he was not allowed to have. He was released on June 13, 2012. International human rights groups called his detention arbitrary, and Amnesty International labeled him a prisoner of conscience.
In 2013 he led the press center for opposition candidate Jamil Hasanli. He also exposed abuses in the Terter case and defended detainees in the 2018 Ganja events. In June 2016 he reported that he was banned from leaving the country and told he was wanted by Sabirabad police.
On October 29, 2019, Gulaliyev was struck by a car while leaving a press conference on anti-torture work. He suffered a skull fracture and brain injury and did not receive medical care for 17 hours, slipping into a coma. His family pursued legal action against doctors, but prosecutors did not open a case. He was treated in Istanbul on doctors’ advice, with funding from the Heydar Aliyev Fund.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:40 (CET).