Azerbaijani prosecutors seek up to 16 years in prison for defendants in Toplum TV case
New York, June 10, 2026 —The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Azerbaijan to drop charges against journalists and other individuals associated with leading independent news outlet Toplum TV after prosecutors on June 8 requested prison terms of up to 16 years on charges related to receipt and use of foreign funds. “The outrageous prison…
Azerbaijan extends pretrial detention of 11 journalists ahead of COP29
New York, October 4, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the extended pretrial detentions of 11 journalists in recent weeks, and calls on Azerbaijani authorities to release them ahead of the COP29 climate conference in November. “The continued incarceration of 11 journalists from Azerbaijan’s last remaining critical media outlets cynically ensures that the country’s boldest…
Azerbaijan extends pretrial detentions of journalists facing currency smuggling charges
Azerbaijani authorities have extended the pretrial detentions of 11 journalists in recent weeks as part of an ongoing crackdown on the country’s few remaining independent media outlets. The journalists are among 13 media workers from four independent outlets charged since November with currency smuggling related to alleged receipt of Western donor funding. The charges have…
Azerbaijani police raid Toplum TV, detain journalists over alleged currency smuggling
Stockholm, March 11, 2024—Azerbaijani authorities should release Toplum TV’s founder Alasgar Mammadli and journalist Mushfig Jabbar, drop all charges against the independent news outlet’s staff, and allow the media to work freely and without reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On March 6, dozens of plainclothes police officers in the capital, Baku, raided…
Azerbaijani journalist Aziz Orujov detained for 3 months, office and home searched
Stockholm, November 29, 2023—Azerbaijani authorities should release Aziz Orujov, director of the popular television channel Kanal 13, from detention on charges of illegal construction, and cease their legal harassment of independent media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. The Sabail District Court in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, on Tuesday ordered that Orujov be held in…