Political prisoners

On June 30, the preliminary hearing in the criminal case against human rights defender Rufat Safarov, executive director of the Defense Line human rights organization, was held at the Baku Serious Crimes Court under Judge Aygun Qurbanova. During the hearing, Safarov’s lawyer Elchin Sadiqov submitted a motion requesting that his client be allowed to sit

Defendants say they are being criminalized for civic engagement, not crimes The latest hearing in the high-profile “Toplum TV case” was held at the Baku Serious Crimes Court, presided over by Judge Elnur Nuriyev. During the trial, defendant and journalist Farid Ismayilov filed a motion for the judge’s recusal, citing his past rulings in politically

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,