On 20 June 2025, the Baku Court of Serious Crimes handed down harsh prison sentences ranging from seven and a half to nine years to seven media workers affiliated with Abzas Media and Radio Free Europe. The charges — including “currency smuggling,” “money laundering,” “tax evasion,” and document forgery — have been widely denounced by human rights organizations as fabricated and politically motivated.
Reacting to the verdict, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, stated:
“The case against Abzas Media is an example of how Azerbaijan’s judicial system is being weaponized to muzzle independent journalism and calls for a strong international response. By pressing fabricated economic charges against journalists who exposed high-level corruption, the Azerbaijani authorities are sending a chilling message to anyone in the country who dares to challenge them. A strong international reaction should make clear that this is unacceptable.”
Struthers added:
“The political repression in Azerbaijan today is staggering, yet we lack a united, principled stand against it from the international community, in defence of human rights. In stark contrast, major actors like the European Union persist in actively courting President Ilham Aliyev in search of lucrative gas deals.”
A Call for Immediate Action
Amnesty International is urging governments and international bodies to apply real pressure on Azerbaijani authorities:
“The international community must exert real pressure on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release the Abzas Media journalists, imprisoned media workers from Toplum TV, Meydan TV and Kanal 13, and all other government critics imprisoned solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression, and to put an end to the Azerbaijani government’s systemic campaign against dissent.”
Background on the Case
Those sentenced include:
- Ulvi Hasanli (director of Abzas Media),
- Sevinc Vagifgizi (editor-in-chief),
- Hafiz Babaly (investigative journalist),
- Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasymova (reporters),
- Muhammad Kekalov (translator),
- Farid Mehralizade (economist and Radio Free Europe correspondent).
Their prosecution is widely seen as retaliation for Abzas Media’s investigations into alleged corruption involving President Ilham Aliyev’s family, post-war reconstruction in Nagorno-Karabakh, and illicit financial networks linked to state enterprises. The trial was marred by procedural violations, reports of ill-treatment, retracted witness statements, and the absence of credible evidence.
Azerbaijan currently holds at least 25 journalists behind bars — the highest number of media workers imprisoned on politically motivated charges since the country joined the Council of Europe in 2001. The crackdown on press freedom continues, with independent journalist Ulviyya Ali, a contributor to Voice of America, arrested as recently as 7 May.
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