International rights organisations have condemned an Azerbaijani court after nine journalists and activists linked to independent outlet Toplum TV were handed prison sentences of up to 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Baku Serious Crimes Court imposed sentences totalling 121 years on the defendants, who were convicted of smuggling and illegal entrepreneurship \u2014 charges all nine deny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the rulings as the harshest measure yet in the Azerbaijani government’s ongoing crackdown on independent media and civil society, surpassing recent sentences given to Abzas Media journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Giorgi Gogia, a representative for HRW, told Radio Free Europe that the message behind the verdicts was clear and unambiguous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“With these sentences of up to 15 years, the authorities are raising the cost of independent activity not only for those convicted, but for anyone considering continuing it,” Gogia said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among those sentenced were Akif Gurbanov and Ruslan Izzatli, representatives of the Third Republic Platform, who were each jailed for 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Toplum TV founder Alasgar Mammadli and journalist Ali Zeynalov each received 14-year terms, while editor Mushfig Jabbarov and activists Ramil Babayev and Ilkin Amrahov were sentenced to 13 years. Journalists Farid Ismayilov and Elmir Abbasov were given 12 years each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called the court proceedings a “sham” and raised urgent concerns over Mammadli’s health, stating that the media founder suffers from thyroid cancer and has been denied necessary medical treatment in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fiona O’Brien, Europe and Central Asia regional director at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said the convictions reflected a wider pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“At least 20 journalists and media workers are currently unjustifiably imprisoned in Azerbaijan,” O’Brien said. “They are victims of an unrelenting campaign of pressure against independent journalism.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) also called for the immediate release of the media staff, describing the proceedings as politically motivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are shocked by these extremely disproportionate penalties,” EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Guti\u00e9rrez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawyers for the defendants said they would appeal against the verdicts, maintaining that the prosecutions were ordered on political grounds to silence independent coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 30 journalists and public activists have been arrested in Azerbaijan on similar charges since November 2023. Local human rights organisations estimate there are currently 328 political prisoners in Azerbaijani detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Azerbaijani officials regularly reject international criticism as biased, asserting that prosecutions are strictly based on criminal violations rather than political motives or professional journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International rights organisations have condemned an Azerbaijani court after nine journalists and activists linked to independent outlet Toplum TV were handed prison sentences of up to 15 years. The Baku Serious Crimes Court imposed sentences totalling 121 years on the defendants, who were convicted of smuggling and illegal entrepreneurship \u2014 charges all nine deny. Rights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1047],"class_list":["post-31738","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\/31738","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=31738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31740,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31738\/revisions\/31740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}