Igbal Abilov is a researcher and educator specialising in the history, ethnography, language and cultural heritage of the Talysh people and the wider South Caucasus. He was born in Bala Kolatan village in Azerbaijan’s Masally District and moved to Belarus as a child.

He studied international relations at Belarusian State University and later taught conflict studies, ethnopolitics and regional studies. Abilov is one of the founders of the Talysh National Academy and serves as Editor-in-Chief of its academic journal. He maintains that the Academy is an exclusively scientific organisation and that he has not engaged in political activity.

International human-rights and academic organisations recognizes him as a political prisoner and consider his prosecution connected to his peaceful academic research and work concerning Talysh identity and culture.