Joint statement by
• the Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, MEP Mounir SATOURI,
• the Chair of the Delegation for relations with the South Caucasus, MEP Nils UŠAKOVS,
• the European Parliament’s Standing Rapporteur on Azerbaijan, MEP Dan BARNA,
on the harsh prison sentences for journalists, researchers, and activists in politically motivated cases in Azerbaijan
Brussels, 25 June 2025 – “We are appalled at the shockingly harsh prison sentences in politically motivated cases in Azerbaijan given to journalists, researchers, and activists over the last days. None of them or the other political prisoners in the country should have been prosecuted in the first place. But the extraordinarily heavy sentences mark yet another escalation in the relentless repression of regime critics in Azerbaijan.
On 23 June 2025, Bahruz Samadov, a researcher at Charles University in Prague and activist advocating for peace with Armenia, arrested in August 2024, was sentenced to 15 years on flimsy charges of treason, after going on a hunger strike and reportedly attempting suicide a few days earlier.
On 20 June 2025, independent news outlet Abzas Media collaborators, including its director Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Abbasova Vagifgizi, journalists Hafiz Babali, Nargiz Absalamova, and Elnara Gasimova, coordinator and activist Mahammad Kekalov, as well as RFE/RL journalist Farid Mehralizada, were all given sentences ranging from seven and a half to nine years, based on trumped-up charges of smuggling foreign currency and money laundering. The arrests of the Abzas Media team in November 2023 marked the beginning of the current wave of repression, while Farid Mehralizada was detained in May 2024.
We recall that just a few weeks ago, Talysh minority historian Igbal Abilov, the editor-in-chief of the Talysh National Academy News magazine, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on treason charges, while opposition activist Tofig Yagublu was sentenced to 9 years in a sham trial in March 2025. These are just some cases out of the staggering number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, which has grown rapidly to almost 400 over the last couple of years. We reiterate in this context Parliament’s calls for EU sanctions to be imposed under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime on responsible Azerbaijani officials and call on the High Representative/Vice-President and the European External Action Service to avoid any steps that would risk emboldening the regime on the current path. We recall that Parliament repeatedly demanded that any future partnership agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan be made conditional on the release of all political prisoners and the improvement of the human rights situation in the country.”
8 journalists given lengthy jail terms as Azerbaijan crushes free press
By CPJ Staff on June 23, 2025
New York, June 23, 2025— Eight Azerbaijani journalists have received prison sentences ranging from 7 ½ to 15 years, as part of an ongoing series of media trials likely to obliterate independent reporting in the Caucasus nation.
In a closed-door trial on Monday, columnist and peace activist Bahruz Samadov was sentenced by a court in the capital Baku to 15 years in prison for treason, after going on a hunger strike and attempting suicide the previous week.
On Friday, six journalists from Abzas Media, widely regarded as Azerbaijan’s most prominent anticorruption investigative outlet, were found guilty of acting as an organized group to commit multiple financial crimes, including currency smuggling, money laundering, and tax evasion, linked to alleged receipt of illegal Western donor funding:
- director Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifgizi (Abbasova), journalist Hafiz Babali – sentenced to 9 years
- reporters Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova – sentenced to 8 years
- project coordinator Mahammad Kekalov – sentenced to 7 ½ years
In addition, journalist Farid Mehralizada from U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Azerbaijani service received a 9-year sentence as part of the same trial.
“The heavy sentences meted out to seven journalists in the Abzas Media case and to columnist Bahruz Samadov signal Azerbaijani authorities’ intent to wipe out what remains of independent coverage,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Reports that Samadov has attempted suicide are particularly concerning. Authorities should ensure Samadov’s wellbeing and immediately release all wrongly jailed journalists.”
Abzas Media told CPJ in a statement that the charges against their staff were “absurd and fabricated” and their “only ‘offense’ was exposing corruption, abuse of power, and informing the public of inconvenient truths.”
RFE/RL condemned Mehralizada’s sentence as a “sham” and “unnecessarily cruel.”
Treason case shrouded in secrecy
At least 21 leading Azerbaijani journalists and media workers have been jailed on charges of receiving funds from Western donors since late 2023, amid a decline in relations with the West and a surge in authoritarianism following Azerbaijan’s recapture of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, ending decades of separatist Armenian rule.
Azerbaijan was the world’s 10th worst jailer with 13 journalists behind bars in CPJ’s latest annual prison census on December 1, 2024.
Full details of the charges against Samadov, who contributes to Georgia-based OC Media and U.S.-based Eurasianet and was detained by state security officers while visiting his family in Azerbaijan in 2024, have not been made public. Authorities classified as secret the case against Samadov, a prominent advocate for peace with neighboring Armenia and a doctoral student in the Czech Republic.
Pro-government media, which receive regular “recommendations” from authorities on what to publish, have denounced Samadov for writing “subversive” articles for the “anti-Azerbaijan” Eurasianet. His reporting, reviewed by CPJ, focuses on growing Azerbaijani militarism and authoritarianism.
‘Absurd’ charges in reprisal for corruption reporting
As the June 20 verdicts were read out, Abzas Media journalists turned their backs on the judges and held up posters of the outlet’s corruption investigations into senior officials, including the president’s family.
President Ilham Aliyev took over from his father in 2003 and won a fifth consecutive term in 2024.
Abzas Media continues to operate from exile.
Western-funded ‘spies’
Amid a major state media campaign against Western-funded “spies,” police raided Abzas Media’s office in November 2023 and said they found 40,000 euros (US$45,900), accusing U.S., French, and German embassies of funding the outlet illegally.
Police arrested the six journalists over the following three months. In 2024, Mehralizada was also detained, though he and Abzas Media denied that he worked for the outlet.
Azerbaijani law requires civil society groups to obtain state approval for foreign grants, which authorities accuse Abzas Media of failing to do.
Defense arguments, reviewed by CPJ, said that such an omission was punishable by fines, not criminal sanctions, and prosecutors did not provide evidence the journalists engaged in criminal activity. Rights advocates accuse Azerbaijan of routinely withholding permission for foreign grants and refusing to register organizations that seek them.
In February, Aziz Orujov, director of independent broadcaster Kanal 13, was sentenced to two years in prison on illegal construction charges. In December, Teymur Karimov, head of independent broadcaster Kanal 11, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Five journalists from Toplum TV and 10 with Meydan TV face trial on similar foreign funding allegations.
Editor’s note: This text has been amended in the ninth paragraph to correct the number of journalists and media workers facing charges of receiving funds from Western donors.
Azerbaijan: Seven Journalists Sentenced in Latest Shocking Crackdown On Free Speech
Monday, June 23, 2025
Reacting to the sentencing to lengthy prison terms of seven media workers in the “Abzas Media case” in Azerbaijan, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:
“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.
“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.
The political repression in Azerbaijan today is staggering, yet we lack a united, principled stand against it from the international communityMarie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director
“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 20 June, the Baku Court of Serious Crimes sentenced seven media workers affiliated with the independent investigative outlet Abzas Media – including director Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinc Vagifgizi, investigative journalist Hafiz Babaly, reporters Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasymova, translator Muhammad Kekalov, and economist and Radio Free Europe correspondent Farid Mehralizade – to prison terms ranging from seven and a half to nine years. The charges included “currency smuggling,” “money laundering,” “tax evasion,” and forgery of documents.
Their prosecution and imprisonment are widely believed to be in retaliation for the media organization’s investigations into corruption among President Ilham Aliyev’s family and inner circle. These include reports on post-war reconstruction in Nagorno-Karabakh and illicit financial networks tied to state-linked companies. During the hearings, the defence highlighted numerous procedural irregularities, pressure on the defendants and witnesses, and a lack of credible evidence. Witnesses have withdrawn or denied previous statements, and defendants have reported ill-treatment in custody.
At least 25 journalists are currently imprisoned in the country. Azerbaijan has the highest number of imprisoned media workers held on politically motivated charges since it joined the Council of Europe in 2001. Just on 7 May, independent journalist Ulviyya Ali, a contributor to Voice of America, was arrested.