An Azerbaijani court has sentenced independent journalist Nargiz Absalamova to eight years in prison following a defiant final speech denouncing government corruption.
Absalamova, 25, a reporter for the investigative outlet Abzas Media, has been held in pre-trial detention for 19 months. She is one of several journalists arrested in a sweeping crackdown on the country’s independent press.
In a bold address to the Baku court before her sentencing, she said that working as a journalist in Azerbaijan was a “struggle” but insisted she had no regrets.
“I am not sorry, because those who remain silent in the face of injustice… their children and grandchildren will eventually become victims of that injustice,” Absalamova said.
Abzas Media is well-known for its investigative reports into high-level corruption involving government officials and the family of President Ilham Aliyev.
During the hearing, Absalamova mocked the panel of judges, offering them Russian-made heart medication to cope with her speech.
“We brought you heart medicine to encourage you to make a fair decision,” she told the court, adding that she did not want the trial delayed should they suffer health issues from her remarks.
She described the prosecution’s 27-volume case against her as “fake”, noting that the evidence relied almost entirely on her travel history, possession of standard bank cards, and a retracted statement by a co-defendant, Mahammad Kekalov.
Absalamova also detailed her history of facing police violence, including a broken tailbone suffered while covering a protest. She said that even in prison, she and her colleagues continued to investigate and expose bribery, poor medical care, and the mistreatment of detainees.
“The government wanted to turn off the light showing the situation in the country by arresting us,” she said. “Instead, we shone a light on the place they kept closed—the detention centre.”
Azerbaijan is ranked 164th out of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index compiled by the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The Azerbaijani government has consistently denied targeting journalists for their work, maintaining that those arrested in recent crackdowns were involved in financial crimes, including smuggling.