The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) strongly condemns the Azerbaijani authorities for the draconian and politically motivated sentencing of nine journalists, media workers, and democracy activists connected to Toplum TV, the Institute for Democratic Initiatives (IDI), and the Third Republic Platform, and urges for their immediate release and the unconditional dropping of all charges.
On 27 July, the Baku Serious Crimes Court handed down combined prison sentences totaling 121 years against nine prominent figures in Azerbaijan’s remaining independent media and civil society space. Following a sham trial marked by severe procedural violations, the defendants were sentenced to between 12 and 15 years in prison on fabricated charges of foreign currency smuggling, money laundering on an especially large scale, tax evasion, document forgery, and illegal entrepreneurship.
The defendants include Akif Gurbanov, spokesperson for the Third Republic Platform and founder of IDI, and political activist Ruslan Izzatli, who were both sentenced to 15 years in prison; media law expert and legal founder of Toplum TV Alasgar Mammadli, and multimedia journalist Ali Zeynal, who were each sentenced to 14 years; Toplum TV video editor Mushfig Jabbar, IDI project coordinator Ramil Babayev, and team coordinator Ilkin Amrakhov, sentenced to 13 years each; and reporters Farid Ismayilov and social media manager Elmir Abbasov, who received 12-year sentences. Following the verdict, Elmir Abbasov, who was previously under house arrest, was taken into custody directly in the courtroom. Furthermore, the court granted a civil claim ordering the total confiscation of the defendants’ property.
This retaliatory legal action stems from coordinated police raids conducted by Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry on 6 March 2024 against the offices of Toplum TV—an independent platform established in 2016 to cover human rights, state corruption, and political developments—and IDI in Baku. The state prosecution maliciously mischaracterized standard, transparent international grant funding for independent journalism and civic education as illegal cash smuggling by an “organized criminal group.”
“This monstrous verdict of 121 collective years in prison represents an unprecedented wave of totalitarian repression aimed at completely eradicating independent journalism and critical civic voices in Azerbaijan,” said Emin Huseynov, Co-Founder of the IRFS. “The regime of President Ilham Aliyev has reverted to Soviet-era political show trials, weaponizing the judicial system to crush anyone who exposes high-level corruption or offers an alternative vision for the country. By falsely labeling routine, legitimate international grants as criminal money laundering and currency smuggling, the authorities are sending a clear signal that no independent media outlet or civil society initiative will be allowed to survive.”
“We are particularly outraged by the court’s cruel disregard for human life and basic dignity, exemplified by the refusal to transfer 57-year-old media lawyer Alasgar Mammadli to house arrest so he could undergo urgent surgery for a throat tumor,” Huseynov added. “Denying vital medical treatment to detainees while forcing them through 45 sessions of a procedural farce demonstrates the absolute cruelty of this politically directed prosecution.”
After a thorough examination of the circumstances surrounding the raids on Toplum TV and IDI, the systematic rejection of defense motions, the denial of basic fair trial guarantees, the physical and medical neglect of detainees, and the absurd inflation of standard civil society operations into criminal charges, the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) firmly asserts that the trial and conviction of these nine individuals was a fabricated and politically motivated act. The intention behind these severe prison terms is a deliberate attempt to enforce total silence ahead of key national events and solidify an environment of total impunity for political elites.
IRFS believes that the Azerbaijani government’s illegal actions against Toplum TV and IDI personnel flagrantly violate Articles 5 (Right to liberty and security), 6 (Right to a fair trial), and 10 (Freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as Azerbaijan’s explicit international commitments.
In this regard, IRFS calls on Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Theodoros Rousopoulos, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan, as well as key European Union leadership to forcefully condemn these arbitrary sentences, demand the immediate and unconditional release of all nine defendants, and consider targeted sanctions against the judges and prosecutors involved in orchestrating these human rights violations.