For many years, a clandestine group of mercenaries has been operating covertly in European countries, physically assaulting and intimidating Azerbaijan critics who sought refuge in Europe. They’re called «repairmen.» Azerbaijani intelligence officers, known as «foremen,» direct these mercenaries, and each operation costs a hefty 60,000 euros. Their goal is straightforward: to silence Azerbaijani government critics living in Europe to protect the country’s image and its leader from negative publicity.
Preface:
The story of Ramazan Yaman found its way to our NEWSROOM quite unexpectedly. A journalist stumbled upon the case of an Azerbaijani citizen named Ramazan Yaman, whom authorities had detained at the Lithuanian Migration Centre in Pabradė. Yaman’s account was nothing short of astonishing; he asserted that he possessed concrete evidence linking Azerbaijani security services to a series of violent incidents targeting their citizens living in Europe. Yaman went on to reveal that he had shared this critical information with the Lithuanian State Security Department while simultaneously seeking asylum in Lithuania. However, despite his previous testimony against Azerbaijani authorities in Sweden, the Lithuanian court decided to deport him to Azerbaijan.
Initially, the first group of investigative journalists who met Yaman were surprised by his story, which initially raised doubts about its truth. However, given the documented instances of violent attacks on Azerbaijanis in various European countries and after a thorough examination of the evidence provided by Yaman, NEWSROOM IN decided to expand the investigative team. Subsequently, colleagues from other countries joined the effort. Here’s what we have managed to uncover so far:
Who is Ramazan Yaman?
Like many young men in Azerbaijan, he enlisted in the army after finishing school. Yaman chose to join the special forces, served his term, and received his discharge. As a civilian, he ventured into business.
He lived in Moscow for some time, running an electronics shop at the Savelovsky market. Eventually, he moved to Istanbul, Turkey, where Yaman pursued a career as a translator. In Istanbul, he provided translation services to individuals and companies working with migrants, establishing himself in neighbourhoods known for hosting immigrants. His translation work involved processing residence permits and liaising with various Turkish and migration services. This line of work allowed him to build a substantial network of acquaintances.
However, Yaman’s life took an unexpected turn in 2019 when Azerbaijan’s intelligence services approached him, seeking his cooperation in combating international terrorists that posed a potential threat to his homeland’s security. This collaboration began with seemingly innocent requests — «Please see if you happen to know this person…»
We do not know what special operations Yaman was involved in during this period. (We did not have the task nor the interest to dig into this complex international tangle of relations between intelligence services of different countries). However, in 2021, Azerbaijani special services made yet another unexpected move. They called Yaman to join a group of «foremen» who, following directives from Azerbaijani intelligence, were assigned the mission of «repairing» journalists, public figures, and bloggers who had left their homeland for Europe and the USA. These individuals openly opposed and criticized the Azerbaijani government.
Screenshots of Yaman’s conversations with his supervisor from Azerbaijan’s special services, nicknamed «Uncle.»
The term «repair» serves as a code used by Azerbaijani security services to conceal acts of intimidation and physical assaults against their opposition figures. The word «repair,» along with phrases like «make repairs,» played a significant role in the messages exchanged between one of the supervisors of the «repairmen» brigade from Azerbaijan’s special services and Ramazan Yaman.
Uncle from Baku ordered a «repair»
When Yaman learned about the nature of the task, he expressed his strong unwillingness to be involved in such an assignment. In one of his conversations with his supervisor, he was very emotional about it. Ramazan made it abundantly clear that fighting against terrorism was a worthwhile cause to participate in. However, he firmly believed that beating up critics of Aliyev (Ilham Aliyev — President of Azerbaijan), even if their statements were, at times, offensive, was not justifiable. (Journalists have a recording of this conversation).
Nonetheless, sometime later, the Azerbaijani police informed Yaman that they had opened a criminal case against him. An individual had filed a report accusing Yaman of assault. When Ramazan began demanding a fair police investigation into the matter, he received subtle hints that this was, in a way, retribution for his refusal to carry out «repairs» targeting opposition figures.
«The secret services have just two options: offer and intimidation. They made me an offer I cannot refuse,» Ramazan states.
Ultimately, he agreed to undertake «repair work» in Europe. Yaman insists that his primary aim was to gather evidence of illegal activities carried out by Azerbaijani special services in European countries. He also maintains that he never participated in any physical assaults and had personally issued warning calls to several bloggers whom Azerbaijani security services sought to «repair.» Yaman received information about these individuals from his supervisor, operating under the code name «Uncle.» According to Yaman, «Uncle» serves as a disguise for the identity of Vugar Muhtarov, Colonel of Azerbaijan’s State Security Service.
The «repairmen» brigades operate on a grand scale.
The «repairmen» brigades operated extensively across multiple countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Georgia, and Belgium. Oversight and payments of untraceable cash came from Azerbaijan. Yaman recounted a specific incident he personally experienced: an individual, using a route via Ukraine and Poland, delivered cash as an upfront payment for one of the «repair operations» to him in Lithuania.
Employees from the Azerbaijani diplomatic mission in Lithuania oversaw the money transfer process, and one of our investigators managed to identify one of them.
He also informed us that, according to his estimation, there are 3 groups from 3 different structures working in Europe: Orkhan Sultanov (head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Azerbaijan), SOCAR (State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the company mentioned in the investigation of the murder of journalist Daphne Galizia from Malta in 2017), and Ali Nagiyev (head of the State Security Service).
They were willing to pay up to 60,000 euros for a single «repair» job. «The funds come from the country where they have readily available cash. In my case, it came from Poland. The order specifies the amount they require, but the Azerbaijani Security Service places significant emphasis on the price not exceeding 60,000 euros,» Ramazan explained.
Screenshots of Yaman’s conversations with his supervisor from Azerbaijan’s special services, nicknamed «Uncle.»
The Formation of Covert Operative Brigades
According to Yaman, there were various methods employed: «utilizing individuals under the control of the government,» «attempting to recruit individuals living illegally in Turkey due to their involvement with gangs in Syria,» and «trying to reach out to European criminals through intermediaries, with a particular focus on Bosnians, Kurds, and Kurds associated with Turkey.» «These brigades — organized by someone with connections to such individuals or by a trusted person with the capability to establish criminal connections within Europe,» he clarified.
The supervisor from the Azerbaijani Security Service provided the victim’s residential address and vehicle registration number. «He also arranges payments through individuals dealing in «black» (untraceable) cash,» Ramazan added.
When asked if the «repairmen» had ties to European criminal mafias, Ramazan responded, «They sought channels among European mafias to establish this operation in a way that wouldn’t trace back to Azerbaijan.»
Yaman noted that he mostly took a passive role, avoiding direct involvement. However, to maintain a facade for his employers, he appeared actively engaged by building contacts in Sweden, assembling «repairmen» teams, and familiarizing himself with the operation. His employers provided him with guidance on surveillance techniques and shared the results of previous «repair crews.»
One of the «assignments» was verified by the NEWSROOM IN investigative team, marking the start of our thorough investigation into the matter.
Berlin, November 2022
On November 21, 2022, Azerbaijani blogger Orkhan Agayev fell victim to a brutal assault by three unidentified assailants right in front of his residence. He suffered severe injuries and required hospitalisation. The attackers communicated in Azerbaijani. On November 23, Orkhan Agayev shared the harrowing details of the attack with a «Caucasian Knot» correspondent. According to his account, the incident occurred around noon while he was taking out the trash.
«I was heading back towards the entrance when I noticed a man closing in on me. He reached me just below our balcony and immediately struck me with a powerful punch, causing me to tumble to the ground. Judging by the sheer force of that blow, it seemed that he was an athlete. After knocking me down, he urgently called out in Azerbaijani for another man to hurry over. Together, they began assaulting me. Initially, they kicked me, piled on top of me, raining blows onto my head. It felt like they weren’t just using their fists but also something heavy. I even spotted one of them holding a knife. I screamed for help, desperately summoning the police. If it weren’t for my wife stepping onto the balcony, shouting, and recording the entire situation, they might have killed me. Rattled by the commotion and the video evidence, they abandoned their assault and fled. Initially, I didn’t experience much pain, and I managed to get back on my feet. That’s when we immediately called the police,» said Agayev.
Orkhan Agayev shared a video of the attack with «Caucasian Knot,» claiming that his wife had filmed it. The 11-second video depicts two men assaulting another man on the ground, with one of them appearing to hold an object resembling a knife. In the background, a woman screams in fear and repeatedly calls out Orkhan’s name.
Screenshots of Yaman’s conversations with his supervisor from Azerbaijan’s special services, nicknamed «Uncle.»
Agayev mentioned that the attackers didn’t make any demands, offer an apology, or instruct him to remain silent. He speculated that they might have had a specific objective, potentially intending to cause him harm or even take his life.
In the video, one of the attackers was clearly recording the assault. They typically do this to offer proof to the person who ordered the attack, confirming its execution.
Ramazan Yaman provided our journalists with compelling evidence pointing toward the involvement of a representative from Azerbaijan’s special services in orchestrating this attack. Yaman shared a video taken up close by one of the attackers, asserting that his supervisor, Colonel Vugar Mukhtarov from the State Security Service of Azerbaijan, had sent him this video
(When we showed the video to Orkhan Agayev for verification, he confirmed that it was him in the video).
The German police investigating the case are still looking for the attackers.
This is for insulting Ilham Aliyev!
NEWSROOM IN currently knows of only one case where authorities have caught the attackers. In 2021, the French police managed to locate and arrest a group of three assailants who viciously attacked blogger Mirzali Muhammad in the city of Nantes. These individuals stabbed the blogger at least 16 times, all while shouting, «This is for you, for insulting Ilham Aliyev.»
In other instances, law enforcement agencies in various countries failed to identify the assailants. Or did they choose not to?
Questions for Law Enforcement
As we investigated the publicly available records of assaulted Azerbaijani bloggers, we noticed several striking similarities:
⇝ All of them had reported receiving threats before the attacks occurred. They had documented these threats on their social media platforms and in statements provided to the police in their respective countries of residence.
⇝ While the police took note of these threats, the fact that such attacks persisted for five years raises questions about whether they took proactive measures to dismantle the network of mercenaries, the «repairers,» who operated on orders from Baku.
Why did this happen? Why didn’t the police find the words of journalists and bloggers convincing? How were they incapable of exposing the long-standing criminal scheme, replicating itself across multiple countries for so many years? So many unanswered questions…
They don’t want to jeopardize their relations with the government of Azerbaijan?
Ramazan gathered evidence and confirmation of the «repairmen» and the Baku «foremen’s» operational procedures. Once he had compiled this evidence, he submitted it to the Swedish authorities and sought asylum. According to Ramazan, there might have been coordination among these brigades to target opposition in Europe, possibly orchestrated by the Azerbaijani embassy in Sweden. The main supervisor of these operations, nicknamed «Uncle from Baku,» visited the embassy several times.
Under the Dublin Regulation, the Swedish authorities redirected Yaman to seek asylum in Lithuania since he held a Lithuanian visa within the EU.
Yaman went to Lithuania and went through the asylum process again, staying at the Migration Centre in Pabradė. Interestingly, his employers from Baku were unaware that he was out of the game. They continued to provide him with information and even sent money to Vilnius through intermediaries. Yaman shared footage of this meeting with a group of investigative journalists and representatives from the Lithuanian security services and migration office.
However, the situation took an unexpected turn when he submitted the information to the migration department. Initially, their representatives claimed not to possess the USB drive he provided, later suggesting they lost it. After Ramazan persistently inquired, the flash drive miraculously reappeared. Subsequently, he engaged in discussions with representatives of the Lithuanian security services (VSD), who initially expressed interest. However, after some time, a VSD representative visited Yaman at the Pabradė migration-center and, according to his account, conveyed that Lithuania did not wish to jeopardize its relations with Azerbaijan.
Later, the court ruled that Ramazan Yaman was a threat to Lithuania’s security and ordered his deportation to Azerbaijan.
One of the investigative team members contacted Yaman’s lawyer, who indicated their intention to appeal the court’s decision. When asked about the grounds mentioned in the court documents, the lawyer explained that they originated from a VSD document. However, the lawyers only received a portion of this document. The lawyer pointed out that with the provided information (part of the certificate), it was impossible to either make a judgment or adequately defend their client.
The publicly available portion of the certificate states that Ramazan Yaman constitutes a threat to Lithuania’s national security. The specific basis for this VSD assessment remains unknown to both our investigative team and the involved lawyers.
What will happen to Yaman?
Before publishing this article, NEWSROOM IN had not contacted VSD regarding Yaman’s case. As is customary, the department typically refrains from commenting on specific cases. We hope that they might offer comments after the article is published. We hope that they may provide some comments post-publication.
Our investigative team considers the information provided by Yaman Ramazan to be critical evidence for the safety of EU residents. We find it puzzling that Lithuania decided to deport him to Azerbaijan, given his role as a crucial witness who could help stop mercenary groups involved in harming, assaulting, and intimidating opposition bloggers and journalists from Azerbaijan living in Europe. It remains unclear why Lithuanian authorities chose deportation despite Yaman’s strong objection.
When asked about his prospects in his home country if deported, Yaman replied:
«To conceal their crimes, they will kill me there.»
Article translated by: Aivaras Goodman
P.S.: Shortly before the this article was published, we received information that Ramazan Yaman escaped from the hospital in Pabradė despite being under supervision. His action might be rooted in his previously expressed lack of trust in the Lithuanian state authorities’ ability to handle his situation objectively.
The editorial team does not have knowledge of his current whereabouts, and he has not contacted us. We will closely monitor further developments.