{"id":1303,"date":"2025-06-25T19:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T19:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=1303"},"modified":"2025-06-26T20:08:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T20:08:17","slug":"joint-statement-on-the-harsh-prison-sentences-for-journalists-researchers-and-activists-in-politically-motivated-cases-in-azerbaijan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=1303","title":{"rendered":"Joint statement on the harsh prison sentences for journalists, researchers and activists in politically motivated cases in Azerbaijan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joint statement by<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 the Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, MEP Mounir SATOURI,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 the Chair of the Delegation for relations with the South Caucasus, MEP Nils U\u0160AKOVS,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 the European Parliament’s Standing Rapporteur on Azerbaijan, MEP Dan BARNA,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

on the harsh prison sentences for journalists, researchers, and activists in politically motivated cases in Azerbaijan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brussels, 25 June 2025\u00a0<\/strong>–\u00a0“We are appalled at the shockingly harsh prison sentences in politically motivated cases in Azerbaijan given to journalists, researchers<\/em>, 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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 20 June 2025, independent news outlet Abzas Media collaborators,<\/em> 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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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,<\/em> 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.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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8 journalists given lengthy jail terms as Azerbaijan crushes free press<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By CPJ Staff on\u00a0June 23, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York, June 23, 2025\u2014 Eight Azerbaijani journalists have received prison sentences ranging from 7 \u00bd to 15 years, as part of an ongoing series of media trials likely to obliterate independent reporting in the Caucasus nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a closed-door trial on Monday, columnist and peace activist Bahruz Samadov was sentenced<\/a> by a court in the capital Baku to 15 years in prison for treason, after going on a hunger strike and attempting suicide<\/a> the previous week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, six journalists<\/a> from Abzas Media, widely regarded as Azerbaijan\u2019s 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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n