Azerbaijan’s ongoing brutal crackdown of journalists must immediately stop and those illegitimately arrested must be freed, said CIVICUS global civil society alliance today. In the lead up to next month's elections and in two months, 15 journalists have been arrested accused of bogus charges.
“It’s an obvious effort to stop the media from covering human rights and corruption issues in the country and to stifle freedom of expression. All charges are fictitious and the journalists must be released immediately.” said David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead at CIVICUS.
On 15 January, Shahin Rzayev of the JAM News outlet and Abzas Media investigative journalist Elnara Gasimova were arrested and charged with “petty hooliganism” and “smuggling” respectively. Shanin was arrested near his home in Surakhany village for posts shared on social media and sentenced by a District Court to 15 days administrative arrest. He was later released and fined 50 Manat (approximately 30 USD). Shanin is also a human rights defender and has over the years been involved in promoting peace in the South Caucasus.
On the same day, Elnara was sentenced to two months and 17 days on charges of “smuggling” under Azerbaijan’s criminal code after she complied with a request to appear before the Baku City Police Headquarters. Five other employees of the Abzas Media, including director Ulvi Hasanli, were also arrested and charged with similar offences after the authorities raided its offices. In addition, Teymur Karimov, the Director of the online news outlet Kanal 11 was charged with “extortion” after being arrested on 11 December and placed in pre-trial detention for four months.
The arrests of journalists and charges levelled against follows a pattern, with a wave of restrictions targeting journalists and media outlets starting in November 2023. More arrests and repression is likely as Azerbaijan prepares for elections in February 2023.
On 22 December 2023, the authorities arrested Shamo Eminov of the independent online TV channel Kanal 13 and ordered him to pre-trial detention for three months and five days. On 29 November, Shamo’s colleague Aziz Orujov, also the Director of Kanal 13, was detained for three months charged with “illegal construction”. Aziz’s appeal against his pre-trial detention order was rejected on 4 December.
Targeting of journalists and media ahead of the upcoming elections, comes with the Azerbaijani authorities, especially the Foreign Ministry, and state-owned media accusing US and European organisations and governments, as well as the US Embassy, the European Union and the Council of Europe of funding media outlets in Azerbaijan illegally. Some media outlets targeted work on issues deemed sensitive by the government like anti-corruption and human rights.
The CIVICUS Monitor, which assesses civic space worldwide, rates Azerbaijan as closed, the worst ranking possible.
“We call on the Council of Europe to demand that the Azerbaijan authorities stop these arrests, drop all charges against the journalists and release them,” said Kode.