The head of the Meclis.info website Imran Aliyev became a defendant in the second criminal case. He was charged under Article 206.3.1 (smuggling - in case of repetition), and before that - under Article 206.3.2 of the Criminal Code (smuggling by a group of persons). The sanctions for both articles are the same - imprisonment from 5 to 8 years.

The day before, at a joint press conference in Berlin between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the issue of arrests of journalists in Azerbaijan was raised.

“No country will allow interference in its information environment; Azerbaijan also protects itself from negative foreign influence. We have a free press, a free Internet, no censorship, hundreds of media outlets, no pressure. If a country has the Internet, then there can be no talk of restricting press freedom,” Aliyev replied. According to him, investigations are being carried out on all facts. A number of media outlets illegally received funds from abroad and were brought to justice.

Since the end of last year, there have been repressions against independent journalists and activists from Abzas Media in Azerbaijan. They were accused of smuggling foreign currency. Representatives of the press deny the accusations and claim that they are being persecuted for investigating corruption.

Two journalists from the independent Internet television channel Channel 13 and four employees of Toplum TV were also arrested. All were accused of currency smuggling.

International human rights and media organizations condemned the Azerbaijani authorities and demanded the release of media workers.