Political prisoners

Next hearing scheduled for July 7 On June 30, the Baku Serious Crimes Court held another hearing in the case of Anar Mammadli, head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS), and civic activist Anar Abdullayev. Presided over by Judge Aygun Qurbanova, the court denied a motion to release Anar Mammadli under house […]

Members of the European Parliament have issued a joint statement condemning the latest prison sentences handed down to journalists, researchers, and activists in Azerbaijan, calling on the EU to impose targeted sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for human rights violations. Mounir Satouri, Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, Nils Ušakovs, Chair of

Bahruz Samedov, a PhD candidate at Charles University in the Czech Republic who was accused of treason, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. The verdict was delivered today by the Baku Serious Crimes Court. Earlier, on 20 June, during a previous hearing, the state prosecutor had requested a 16-year sentence for Samedov. On

Today, a court hearing was held in the “Toplum TV case.” The remaining parts of the indictment were read for defendants Akif Qurbanov, Alesker Mammadli, Ruslan Izzetli, Ramil Babayev, Ali Zeynalov, Mushfig Jabbarov, Ilkin Amrahov, Farid Ismayilov, and Elmir Abbasov. During the hearing at the Baku Serious Crimes Court, presided over by Judge Azer Taghiyev,

On 20 June, during the final hearing of the “Abzas Media case,” Sevinc Vagifgizi (Abbasova), the imprisoned editor-in-chief of Abzas Media, delivered a powerful final statement before the court sentenced her to nine years in prison. Below is the full text of her statement: Independent journalism has always been a clandestine act in Azerbaijan —