On Wednesday, Azerbaijani police arrested dozens of journalists and activists amidst ongoing crackdown on civil society. Many were released several hours later, while seven of them remained in custody.
As arrests continue, on Friday police also detained Alasgar Mammadli, well known Azerbaijani media lawyer and founder of Toplum Tv. The same day, police also detained Ruslan Izzatli, founding board member of the Third Republic Platform, a democracy group.
According to Alasgar Mammadli’s wife, police “discovered” 60,000 euros at their apartment. Ruslan Izzatli relatives also say the police “discovered” money in his apartment, but the amount is not disclosed yet.
At the same time, the court sent Ramil Babayev, Ali Zeynalov, Mushviq Jabbarov and Ilkin Amrahov, reporters of Toplum Tv, and Akif Gurbanov, a speaker of Third Republic Platform, four months pre-trial detention on smuggling charges. Two of the reporters, Farid Ismayilov and Elmir Abbasov were released but have been put under “police control”.
If proven, they all face from five to eight years imprisonment.
What Happened on Wednesday?
At about 4:30 pm on Wednesday, police raided offices of independent media outlet Toplum Tv and Third Republic Platform. After the raid, the office of Toplum TV was sealed. At the same time, the Instagram account of Toplum Tv was taken down, and its YouTube channel was renamed and 5,000 videos were deleted.
After a while the Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed the raid and stated it was “carried out operational search measures based on received information regarding the activities of a group of individuals”
Akif Gurbanov’s lawyer, Shahla Humbatova, said that police claimed to have discovered 30,000 euros at Third Republic Platform’s office, but Gurbanov denies that it belongs to the platform or to him personally.
Later police also searched Gurbanov’s house and took personal documents. According to Humbatova, she was not allowed to attend the search process and at least six policemen “forcibly removed her”.
Toplum TV’s journalist Farid Ismayilov’s apartment also was searched by police and claimed that 3,100 euros were found. According to his lawyer Zibeyda Sadigova, Ismayilov denied that the money belonged to him.
Ismayilov’s mother Malahat Ismayilova told Meydan TV that she has concern on Farid’s health, since he had at least two medical operations recently.
He was at the hospital. I went to take over his personal belongings, and he had just 2.50 manats (US$1.47) in his pocket. Just go and take a look at our living place, it is almost falling over.
– Ismayilova said.
The police search continued at the apartments of another three journalists – Elmir Abbasov, Ali Zeynal and Ramil Babayev and police claimed to have “discovered” 2,700 Euros, 10,700 Euros and 2,700 euro at their apartments.
“They want to destroy all media outlets in country”
Khadija Ismayilova, editor in chief of Toplum TV, told journalists that the media outlet had never done anything illegal.
[The criminal case] is completely fictitious. The sole purpose is to shut down one of the few platforms available in the country for voicing critical opinions
she said.
According to the editor in chief, the purpose behind the attack is to abolish all the independent media organisations in the country.
..so that no media organisation remains.. there is no platform for critical opinions to be voiced. This is the next stage of those events
she said.
What Does the International Community Say?
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a March 6 briefing that Washington is “deeply troubled” by Baku’s reported actions against the journalists and activists.
We call on Azerbaijan to end the harassment of those exercising their fundamental freedoms, and urge the release of all individuals being unjustly held in politically motivated cases,
Miller said.
No one should face incarceration or other retribution for exercising freedom of expression.
In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Freedom House denounced the move by the regime of President Ilham Aliyev, calling the crackdown “the Aliyev regime’s latest unacceptable attack on critical, independent voices in the country.”
We will continue to closely monitor the Aliyev regime’s campaign against civil society, activists, and independent media, and we urge democratic governments to hold the regime accountable for this wave of repression
they wrote.
What happened previously?
Authorities have targeted other independent news outlets in recent months.
In November 2023, Ulvi Hasanli, the executive director of Abzas Media, was arrested. Following his arrest, police searched the Abzas office and Hasanli’s home. According to his lawyer, police claimed to have found 40,000 euros (US$43,585) in the office.
Following the search, a criminal investigation into smuggling was opened against the Abzas Media team. Six of its employees are currently in pre-trial detention.
Aziz Orujov, the director of independent YouTube news channel Kanal 13, was detained on Nov. 29 and remains in custody. Orujov stands accused of unauthorised construction on land without ownership, use, or lease rights. If he is found guilty, he could be sent to prison for up to three years.
Pro-Government Media Accuse USA again
Following the crackdown, government friendly online newspaper, Yeni Musavat published a piece accusing independent media outlets of being “against national interest” and “acting against the state”
“When a journalist, NGO worker or someone else working against the state is neutralised, it cannot be immediately considered as a violation of human rights or suppression of freedom of speech. Let’s conduct another investigation, find out the intentions of those who gave them money, and then we will see who is right and who is wrong”.
Report News Agency’s publication also claimed that the aim of independent media is “to create chaos in Azerbaijan and disrupt the existing stability”.
Besides it, the same topic covered with similar accusation by other pro-governmental media outlets and TV Broadcasts like Axar.az, Khalg Newspaper, REAL Tv,
