London, October 22, 2026—Azerbaijan should drop its financial crimes case against two journalists and another staff member of Meclis.info, an independent media outlet covering the work of the country’s parliament, and stop using allegations of illegal funding from international donors to silence the independent press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.
On October 20, prosecutors in the capital Baku requested prison sentences of 12 years for Imran Aliyev, the founder of Meclis.info who has been jailed since 2024, and 11 years for the outlet’s data analyst Elgiz Gahraman on multiple economic crime charges linked to alleged violations of foreign funding laws. A third defendant, Meclis.info accountant Tamella Musayeva, was reportedly taken ill in the courtroom before prosecutors could request a sentence for her and the hearing was adjourned.
A verdict in the case is expected on November 3.
“Azerbaijan’s authorities are using foreign funding laws to persecute news outlets in an unprecedented crackdown that has seen at least 25 journalists jailed for simply doing their jobs. The unjustifiable sentences requested for Imran Aliyev and Elgiz Gahraman of Meclis.info are yet another example of this,” said Fiona O’Brien, CPJ’s director for Europe and Central Asia. “European Court of Human Rights rulings against Azerbaijan have clearly stated that these types of charges are illegitimate and retaliatory. Azerbaijan must immediately release Aliyev and drop all charges against him and his colleagues.”
Meclis.info is among four leading independent media outlets targeted over alleged unlawful receipt of funding from major Western donor organizations, amid a crackdown on Azerbaijani civil society and a decline in relations with the West.
In July this year, authorities sentenced nine individuals linked to Toplum TV to prison terms of up to 15 years on similar allegations. In June 2025, six journalists and media workers from anti-corruption investigative outlet Abzas Media were jailed for up to nine years, and 12 journalists and media workers linked to Berlin-based Meydan TV are standing trial on a range of financial crime charges and remain in pretrial detention.
Meclis.info publishes data-based analyses and video explainers on the work of Azerbaijan’s parliamentary deputies and has almost 100,000 followers across its social media accounts.
Police arrested Aliyev, who is also chief executive of Meclis.info, on charges of currency smuggling in April 2024, amid a wave of detentions of prominent journalists on similar charges based on alleged Western funding. Aliyev said police beat and electrocuted him following his arrest. Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs denied the allegations.
According to news reports, the charges filed against Aliyev and Gahraman are two counts each of illegal entrepreneurship and money laundering, tax evasion, forgery of documents, and use of forged documents. Musayeva was also charged with the same offences. She and Gahraman remain free, but under travel bans pending a verdict.
Azerbaijani law requires civil society groups to obtain state approval for foreign grants and authorities say Meclis.info and other targeted outlets failed to comply.
In rulings on similar cases, the European Court of Human Rights stressed that such an omission was punishable under Azerbaijani law by fines, not criminal sanctions. Independent experts say that authorities refuse to register independent organizations seeking foreign grants, making it impossible to legally receive funding from abroad.
Azerbaijan was the world’s sixth-worst jailer of journalists in 2025, according to CPJ’s prison census. In addition to cases involving Western grants, multiple journalists have been jailed on separate charges. Authorities have also heavily restricted international media and sentenced exiled journalists to lengthy prison terms in absentia.