CPJ condemns extended detention of journalists in Azerbaijan

Journalists arrests in Azerbaijan

“In recent weeks, Azerbaijani authorities have extended the pretrial detention of 11 journalists as part of the ongoing crackdown on the country’s few remaining independent media,” stated the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

• Who will be granted amnesty in Georgia? Parliament has proposals from both the ruling party and the opposition
• “Incomes do not cover expenses”: Rising prices in Azerbaijan
• “The Organization of Turkic States could shift Central Asia closer to Europe” – A view from Baku

These journalists are among 13 media workers from four independent outlets arrested since November 2023 on charges of currency smuggling related to alleged funding from Western donors. “The charges were brought amid deteriorating relations between Azerbaijan and the West and as the country prepares to host the COP29 climate conference in November 2024,” CPJ noted.

“Azerbaijan must stop using imprisonment and travel bans as tactics to silence and intimidate journalists,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director in New York.

“Authorities should drop all charges and travel restrictions and immediately release those still in custody,” he added.

Abzas Media staff in Azerbaijan face extended detention, editor reports mistreatment

“If you don’t stay quiet, we’ll drag you by your hair” – Sevinj Vagifgyzy, the chief editor, demands that the Ombudsman visit the detention center

CPJ provided a list of journalists whose pretrial detention terms were extended since June 10:

• Investigative journalist Hafiz Babaly (extended by two months and one week, July 9)
• Toplum TV video editor Mushfig Jabbar (extended by three months, July 4)
• Toplum TV founder Alasgar Mammadli (extended by three months, July 3)
• Kanal-13 director Aziz Orujov (extended by three months, June 25)
• Kanal-13 journalist Shamo Eminov (extended by three months, June 25)
• Meclis.info founder Imran Aliyev (extended by two months, June 13)
• Abzas Media director Ulvi Hasanli, chief editor Sevinj Vagifgizi, and project manager Mahammad Kekalov (extended by three months, June 12)
• Abzas Media journalist Nargiz Absalamova (extended by three months, June 11)
• Abzas Media journalist Elnara Gasimova (extended by two months, June 10)

Authorities have rejected multiple requests by Alasgar Mammadli’s lawyers to transfer him to house arrest for additional examinations due to suspected thyroid cancer. Mammadli has filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Council after what relatives describe as an incomplete medical examination under police supervision.

CPJ sent emails to the Ministry of Internal Affairs requesting comments on the pretrial detention extensions and travel bans, and to the Penitentiary Service seeking comments on Mammadli’s medical examination, but received no responses.

Founder of the persecuted Azerbaijani media does not have cancer. Family doubts the results of the "prison" biopsy

Mammadli reported that he was not allowed to undergo examination by the doctor of his choice and that he was poorly treated during the procedure

Journalists Farid Ismailov and Elmir Abbasov from Toplum TV have been released on bail pending trial.

All journalists face up to eight years in prison if found guilty under Article 206.3.2 of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code. Azerbaijani legislation requires official approval of foreign grants, which is regularly denied. At the same time, according to experts, authorities are pressuring advertisers to squeeze out internal sources of funding.

Separately, police questioned Shamshad Agha, the head of the independent news website Arqument.az and a former journalist at Toplum TV, on July 5 as a witness in the Toplum TV case, informing him that he is under a travel ban, local media reported.

CPJ is investigating reports that at least 20 other journalists may also be banned from leaving the country, with some having their bank accounts frozen.