{"id":30764,"date":"2025-05-29T14:35:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T14:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/?p=30764"},"modified":"2025-05-30T14:35:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T14:35:33","slug":"30764","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/news-feed\/30764\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAbzas Media\u201d Awarded Special Prize by the European Press Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recognition of its courage under repression and its role in an unprecedented international collaboration, <strong>Abzas Media<\/strong> has been honored with the <strong>European Press Prize\u2019s Special Award<\/strong> for its contribution to <em>The Baku Connection<\/em> consortium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Building on Silenced Voices<\/strong><br>Coordinated by the <strong>Forbidden Stories<\/strong> platform, <em>The Baku Connection<\/em> brought together 40 journalists from 15 leading news outlets\u2014including <strong>Der Standard<\/strong>, <strong>Le Monde<\/strong>, <strong>France 24<\/strong>, <strong>The Guardian<\/strong>, <strong>OCCRP<\/strong>, <strong>Radio France<\/strong>, <strong>ZDF<\/strong>, and <strong>Abzas Media<\/strong>\u2014to continue the investigations of their Azerbaijani colleagues, many of whom have been jailed for reporting on corruption, environmental abuses, and human-rights violations under the Aliyev regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Three Reports, Three Expos\u00e9s<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>February 1, 2024 (Pre-election):<\/strong> The consortium\u2019s first instalment examined systemic management failures in Azerbaijan\u2019s prison system and detailed health and safety concerns at the Gadabay gold mine in the country\u2019s west.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>February 20, 2024 (Post-election):<\/strong> The second report revealed how Azerbaijani authorities manipulate election monitoring to manufacture democratic legitimacy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>November 8, 2024 (Ahead of COP29):<\/strong> The third instalment uncovered suspicious financial networks tied to French-Azerbaijani businessman Khagani Bashirov, including a luxury villa on the French Riviera, opaque Luxembourg holding structures, and the alleged embezzlement of millions of euros.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A Prize for Perseverance<\/strong><br>The European Press Prize\u2019s special distinction was formally presented to <strong>Leyla Mustafayeva<\/strong>, the Abzas Media journalist who, despite her colleagues\u2019 imprisonment, helped coordinate <em>The Baku Connection<\/em> efforts on the ground. Accepting the award, Mustafayeva said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis honor belongs not only to our team at Abzas Media but to every journalist who refused to let censorship win.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Human Cost<\/strong><br>Since <strong>November 20, 2023<\/strong>, six key members of Abzas Media have been detained under the so-called \u201cAbzas Media case\u201d: director <strong>Ulvi Hasanli<\/strong>, deputy director <strong>Mammad Kekalov<\/strong>, editor-in-chief <strong>Sevinc Vagifgizi<\/strong>, reporters <strong>Nargiz Absalamova<\/strong> and <strong>Elnara Gasimova<\/strong>, and investigative journalist <strong>Hafiz Babali<\/strong>. In May 2024, economist-journalist <strong>Farid Mehralizadeh<\/strong> of Radio Azadliq was also arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Initially charged with smuggling, the journalists now face expanded allegations of illegal entrepreneurship, organized-group smuggling, tax evasion, document forgery, and the use of forged papers. On <strong>May 20, 2025<\/strong>, prosecutors demanded <strong>12 years\u2019 imprisonment<\/strong> each for Hasanli, Babali, and Mehralizadeh, and <strong>11 years<\/strong> for Vagifgizi, Kekalov, Absalamova, and Gasimova. The defendants\u2014who insist their only \u201ccrime\u201d is reporting the truth\u2014have called for continued international solidarity with their ongoing investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>From Urgent Appeal to Global Consortium<\/strong><br>Shortly after the arrests, Abzas Media published an appeal urging local and international colleagues to carry on their unfinished work. On <strong>November 23, 2023<\/strong>, Forbidden Stories, <strong>OCCRP<\/strong>, and <strong>Paper Trail Media<\/strong> issued a joint statement announcing the launch of <em>The Baku Connection<\/em> consortium. Within days, fifteen global outlets and forty journalists had pledged to collaborate, ensuring that the stories their Azerbaijani peers began would reach the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A Legacy of Recognition<\/strong><br>This Special Award follows other accolades for Abzas Media: the <strong>2024 Free Media Award<\/strong> and the <strong>Homo Homini Global Human Rights Award<\/strong> from People in Need. Yet for Mustafayeva and her colleagues, the real victory lies in sustaining press freedom and exposing abuse. As she remarked upon receiving the prize:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEvery fact we publish is a step toward justice\u2014for our imprisoned colleagues, for the communities they serve, and for the cause of a free press everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Looking Ahead<\/strong><br>With the European Press Prize shining an international spotlight on their work, Abzas Media and its partners in <em>The Baku Connection<\/em> consortium have underscored a vital truth: silencing journalists only deepens the need for transparency. As the legal process unfolds in Baku, global media will continue to monitor the trials\u2014and the stories\u2014until each is told in full.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In recognition of its courage under repression and its role in an unprecedented international collaboration, Abzas Media has been honored with the European Press Prize\u2019s Special Award for its contribution to The Baku Connection consortium. Building on Silenced VoicesCoordinated by the Forbidden Stories platform, The Baku Connection brought together 40 journalists from 15 leading news [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1047],"class_list":["post-30764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-feed","tag-editor"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30764"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30770,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30764\/revisions\/30770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}