AbzasMedia
Abzas Media trial begins in Baku
The seven media workers were detained for smuggling in November 2023.
 |  |  | ||
 |  |  |
Last week, Azerbaijani authorities raided the offices of AbzasMedia, an independent news outlet covering corruption in the country. They arrested four of its employees, including its director, Ulvi Hasanli, and editor-in-chief, Sevinj Vagifgizi, on charges of smuggling foreign currency into the country.
They denied the charges and accused the government of falsifying evidence against them by planting €40,000 ($44,000) in their offices to disrupt their work.
On Tuesday, the police also arrested Aziz Orujov, the founder of Kanal 13, an independent online TV, for allegedly illegally constructing a house.
These arrests have led many in Azerbaijan to fear that a wave of repression is beginning, similar to other such periods of pressure against journalists, activists, and politicians in Azerbaijan.
This week, Islam Shikhali talks about working as a journalist in Azerbaijan in light of the crackdown on AbzasMedia, Anar Mammadli, the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center, talks about his own arrest in a previous crackdown on civil society a decade ago, and Bahruz Samadov, a PhD candidate at Charles University, talks about how Azerbaijan’s relationship with the West influenced its authoritarian crackdown on AbzasMedia.
Read more:
- Editorial | Ilham Aliyev’s attempt to eradicate the free press cannot succeed
- Azerbaijan detains fourth AbzasMedia employee in ongoing crackdown
- Azerbaijan arrests founder of Kanal 13 a week after AbzasMedia raid
Become a supporter at oc-media.org/support_us, or on Patreon.
Related Articles
AbzasMedia
Explainer | One year on in Azerbaijan’s crackdown on independent media
November 2023 was a black month for journalists working for Azerbaijan’s independent media outlet and OC Media partner AbzasMedia, marking the beginning of a renewed crackdown against independent media. On 20 November 2023, police raided the offices of AbzasMedia, claiming to have found €40,000 ($44,000) in cash during their search. Earlier that day, both the media site’s director, Ulvi Hasanli, and its deputy director, Mahammad Kekalov, were detained at their homes. Hasanli alleged that he
AbzasMedia
Azerbaijan presses new charges against three detained in AbzasMedia case
Azerbaijani police have pressed new charges against two of AbzasMedia’s staff members and an economist detained during the crackdown on independent media. The chief investigator of the Baku City Police Department on Friday charged AbzasMedia’s deputy director Mahammad Kekalov, journalist Nargiz Absalamova, and unaffiliated economist Farid Mehralizade with illegal entrepreneurship, smuggling assets as part of an organised group, tax evasion, and falsifying documents. If found guilty under the
AbzasMedia
Azerbaijani economist ‘kidnapped’ and detained in AbzasMedia case
Azerbaijani economist Farid Mehralizade was detained as part of the government’s crackdown on AbzasMedia, despite not having any ties to the independent news outlet. Mehralizade was expected to testify in the AbzasMedia case on Saturday, but was reportedly abducted and detained two days earlier, on 30 May. His wife, Nargiz Mukhtarova, said that her husband disappeared in the early morning of 30 May, and was escorted to their home by the police around noon that day. ‘The police brought him
Most Popular
Subscribe to our newsletter
