“Our arrest proves that the Azerbaijani state acted on orders from Russia’s FSB,” writes the journalist
Ulviyya Ali on the arrest of Sputnik journalists
Journalist Ulviyya Ali, arrested in the “Meydan TV” case, wrote from prison that the Azerbaijani government’s portrayal of Sputnik journalists as agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) proves that Baku was carrying out the FSB’s orders.
Her reasoning was as follows: “When the wave of repression against independent journalists began in Azerbaijan, it was Sputnik that first put forward the idea of our inevitable arrest and issued a kind of ‘fatwa’.”
Journalist Ulviyya Ali (Guliyeva) was detained on the night of 7 May 2025 by officers from the Baku Main Police Department in connection with the so-called “Meydan TV case.” The Khatai District Court ordered her pre-trial detention of one month and 29 days that same day.
On 6 December 2024, several Meydan TV colleagues were arrested: editor-in-chief Aynur Elgunesh (Gambarova), reporters Aytaj Tapdyg (Ahmadova), Khayala Aghayeva, Aysel Umudova, Natig Javadli, and freelance journalist Ramin Jabrayilzade (Ramin Deko). They were later joined in detention by journalists Shamshad Aghayev, Nurlan Libre (Gahramanli), and Fatima Movlamli.
All were charged under article 206.3.2 of the Criminal Code — smuggling committed in a group by prior agreement. Meydan TV maintains that the arrests are linked to their journalistic work and aimed at silencing independent reporting.
It has now been more than six weeks since the arrest of Sputnik staff. One reaction to their detention that made me smile was the attempt by pro-government media to equate the arrests of independent journalists with those of Sputnik employees.
It is clear that their arrest was also politically motivated. But the difference between us is huge. Sputnik journalists work on commission and are not free to act on their own, while we were arrested precisely because we refuse to take orders and because we work independently. To compare their arrest with ours is absurd.
Another striking point is that in reports about human rights and the arrests of journalists in Russia, the authorities cite international reports. Yet those same reports also describe the situation in Azerbaijan as critical. That part is ignored, and the reports themselves are dismissed as biased.
In these reports, the government portrays Sputnik journalists as agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). When the wave of repression against independent journalists began in Azerbaijan, it was Sputnik that that first advanced the notion of our inevitable arrest and issued a kind of “fatwa.”
In fact, this should be seen as an admission: our imprisonment proves that the Azerbaijani state carried out the orders of Russia’s FSB.
