Journalists in Azerbaijan face trials, jailings, travel bans

An Azerbaijani court on Friday denied petitions by two jailed journalists to be released from house arrest, their lawyers said.

The journalists, Aynur Elgunesh and Natig Javadli, work for Meydan TV, an independent outlet based in Germany. They were among six journalists arrested in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, in early December.

Azerbaijan is among the worst jailers of journalists in the world, with more than a dozen behind bars, according to a report released this week by the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ.

Azerbaijan is currently detaining at least 18 journalists for their work, according to CPJ.

The group’s latest prison census, which acts as a snapshot of media workers in custody as of Dec. 1, listed 13 journalists in the Azerbaijani prison. One of those was released after the census was taken, but authorities then jailed six more journalists, including Elgunesh and Javadli.

The arrests are a concern for local activists and reporters.

“Independent and critical media in Azerbaijan is going through its most difficult period,” Azerbaijani activist Samir Kazimli told VOA. “If this policy of repression does not stop, if it continues, independent media in Azerbaijan may completely collapse.”

The annual CPJ report found 361 journalists behind bars around the world. Azerbaijan ranked eighth worst in the census, behind countries such as China, Israel, Myanmar, Belarus and Russia.

“Azerbaijan has been cracking down on independent media for well over a decade,” CPJ’s CEO, Jodie Ginsberg, told VOA. “It doesn’t often get the attention that it deserves.”

Local journalists like Shamshad Agha are worried that Azerbaijani authorities are trying to stamp out independent media.

Agha is editor of Argument.az, a news website covering democracy, corruption and human rights.

“The lives of all independent journalists are in danger,” he told VOA. Agha said he has been banned from leaving the country since July 2024.

Azerbaijan’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Many of the journalists jailed in Azerbaijan are accused of foreign currency smuggling, which media watchdogs have rejected as a sham charge.

Many of those currently detained work for the independent outlets Abzas Media and Meydan TV.

Farid Mehralizada, an economist and journalist with the Azerbaijani Service of VOA’s sister outlet, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, is among those currently imprisoned.

Jailed since May, Mehralizada is facing charges of conspiring to smuggle foreign currency, as well as “illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering, tax evasion and document forgery.” He denies the charges, which carry a combined sentence of up to 12 years behind bars.

On Thursday, Ulviyya Guliyeva, a journalist who has been a contributor to VOA’s Azerbaijani Service since 2019, was summoned to a police station in Baku for questioning.

The journalist said she was questioned about Meydan TV, even though she is not an employee there. Guliyeva said she was also placed under a travel ban that blocked her from leaving the country.

“This is a very disturbing situation for me,” Guliyeva said. “I see this as pressure on my journalistic activities.”

Parvana Bayramova of VOA’s Azerbaijani Service contributed to this report.