{"id":30817,"date":"2025-06-17T20:21:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T20:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/?p=30817"},"modified":"2025-06-17T20:21:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T20:21:33","slug":"exposing-illegalities-became-the-crime-lawyers-denounce-abzas-media-trials-as-politically-driven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/news-feed\/exposing-illegalities-became-the-crime-lawyers-denounce-abzas-media-trials-as-politically-driven\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Exposing Illegalities Became the Crime\u2019: Lawyers Denounce Abzas Media Trials as Politically Driven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since November\u202f2023, six employees of Abzas Media\u2014a Baku\u2011based outlet renowned for its corruption investigations\u2014along with two allied journalists, have been held on charges ranging from smuggling and illegal entrepreneurship to document forgery. arrested were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ulvi\u202fHasanli<\/strong>, director<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Muhammad\u202fKekalov<\/strong>, deputy director<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sevinc\u202fVaqifqizi<\/strong>, chief editor<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Nargiz\u202fAbsalamova<\/strong> and <strong>Elnara\u202fQasimova<\/strong>, reporters<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hafiz\u202fBabali<\/strong>, investigative journalist<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Farid\u202fMehralizade<\/strong>, radio journalist (May\u202f2024)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Originally detained for alleged smuggling, the charges were intensified in August\u202f2024. Human rights groups both inside and outside Azerbaijan have called the case politically motivated and demanded the journalists\u2019 release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">June\u202f10 Court Session: Key Defense Arguments<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lack of Evidence &amp; \u201cOrganized Group\u201d Charge<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lawyer Bahruz\u202fBayramov<\/strong>, defending Elnara\u202fQasimova, emphasized that across <strong>27 volumes<\/strong> of investigative files there is \u201cnot a single piece of evidence \u2026 proving the defendants were members of an organized group.\u201d He noted that under the Supreme Court\u2019s 2016 Plenum decision, criminal liability for carrying undeclared cash applies only if customs officials actually catch a prohibited sum at the border\u2014yet \u201cnone of the accused were caught with a prohibited amount\u201d on crossing. <\/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\">\u201cPrior to her January\u202f13,\u202f2024 arrest, there was no proof anywhere that my client committed these crimes. The only reason she was detained was her continuing work as a journalist.\u201d<br>\u2014\u202fBahruz\u202fBayramov<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Procedural Violations &amp; Coerced Testimony<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lawyer Rovshana\u202fRahimli<\/strong>, speaking for Nargiz\u202fAbsalamova, detailed extensive procedural flaws:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Evidence seized under duress.<\/strong> Though police \u201callegedly\u201d obtained computers and phones voluntarily, defendants testified they faced physical and psychological pressure\u2014claims the court ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key witness retractions.<\/strong> Muhammad\u202fKekalov, initially a star prosecution witness, recanted in open court: his pretrial statements\u2014given while under police control without a proper defense\u2014\u201cdid not correspond to the truth,\u201d Rahimli stressed. Under Azerbaijani law, only statements made freely before a chosen lawyer count as valid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lack of original documents.<\/strong> All documents are mere photographs of unknown origin; no originals have been produced.<\/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\">\u201cEvidence obtained illegally, especially under pressure, cannot have evidentiary value and should be considered inadmissible.\u201d<br>\u2014\u202fRovshana\u202fRahimli<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rahimli pointed out that the prosecution even recycled template language from other cases\u2014misstating dates and grouping unrelated journalists together\u2014underscoring the sham nature of the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Politicized Definitions &amp; Press Freedom<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both lawyers attacked the government\u2019s broad application of criminal concepts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cOrganized group\u201d abuse.<\/strong> Constitutional Court guidelines require a premeditated agreement, defined roles, and a concerted plan. Yet investigators offer no concrete assignments or proof of coordination beyond the journalists\u2019 editorial meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Entrepreneurship vs. grant-funded journalism.<\/strong> Absalamova reported that Abzas Media operated on foreign grants\u2014non\u2011commercial by nature. Failure to register a grant, at worst an administrative offense, does not equate to illegal business or tax evasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taken together, the defense painted a portrait of state-directed legal harassment: every charge\u2014from smuggling to forgery\u2014rests on either political orders or hollow procedural pretense rather than fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After June\u202f10\u2019s performances, most defendants reserved their final remarks for the June\u202f20 hearing. Only Hafiz\u202fBabali delivered closing words that day. With six months behind bars already, the journalists await the court\u2019s ruling\u2014though their lawyers admit they expect little justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the Abzas Media trials continue, they symbolize a wider assault on press freedom in Azerbaijan. The coming weeks will test whether the judiciary can uphold rule\u2011of\u2011law principles\u2014or if it will remain a conduit for political persecution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since November\u202f2023, six employees of Abzas Media\u2014a Baku\u2011based outlet renowned for its corruption investigations\u2014along with two allied journalists, have been held on charges ranging from smuggling and illegal entrepreneurship to document forgery. arrested were: Originally detained for alleged smuggling, the charges were intensified in August\u202f2024. Human rights groups both inside and outside Azerbaijan have called [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1047],"class_list":["post-30817","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\/30817","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=30817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30818,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30817\/revisions\/30818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}