Elnara Gasimova, a reporter for anti-corruption investigative outlet Abzas Media, has been detained since January 2024 on multiple financial charges in relation to alleged receipt of Western donor funding.
Gasimova is one of at least 16 journalists and media workers – 15 of whom CPJ reported on in November and one whose case we confirmed in mid-December – charged with serious crimes between late 2023 and December 1, 2024, in a major crackdown on the independent press and civil society in Azerbaijan.
In November and December 2023, police in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, arrested five Abzas Media journalists – director Ulvi Hasanli, project coordinator Mahammad Kekalov, chief editor Sevinj Vagifgizi, and reporters Nargiz Absalamova and Hafiz Babali. A court ordered all five to be held in pretrial detention on charges of conspiring to smuggle a large sum of money into the country, after police claimed to find $40,000 during a search of the outlet’s office.
On November 28, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the U.S., German, and French envoys and accused their embassies and organizations registered in those countries of illegally funding Abzas Media.
On January 13, Baku police summoned Gasimova for questioning in the Abzas Media case and arrested her. Two days later, a court remanded her into pretrial detention on the same currency smuggling charges.
Abzas Media is one of three major outlets – including Toplum TV and Kanal 13 – from among Azerbaijan’s last remaining independent media targeted over alleged receipt of Western donor money between late 2023 and December 1, 2024. The crackdown has been linked to a decline in Azerbaijani-Western relations and authorities’ desire to silence dissent as President Ilham Aliyev secured a fifth consecutive term and Azerbaijan hosted the United Nations climate change conference COP29.
Gasimova and her colleagues have denied the charges. A statement issued by Abzas Media said the charges were retaliation by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for “a series of investigations into the corruption crimes committed by the president of the country and his appointed officials.”
In August 2024, authorities brought seven new economic crime charges against the Abzas journalists, including money laundering and tax evasion. The new charges increase the maximum prison sentence the journalists could face to up to 12 years.
As of early December 2024, Gasimova remains at the Baku Pretrial Detention Center, Leyla Mustafayeva, Abzas Media’s acting chief editor, told CPJ. In November 2024, Abzas Media reported that Gasimova, Vagifgizi, and Absalamova had been ill-treated by prison guards after complaining about jail conditions.
CPJ emailed the Penitentiary Service of Azerbaijan for comment in December 2024, but did not receive a reply.