The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Azerbaijan to release free press representatives

The International Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the Azerbaijani authorities to drop charges against the journalists of the Abzas Media publication and release them.

From November 2023 to January 2024, police arrested Abzas Media Director Ulvi Hasanli, Editor-in-Chief Sevinj Vagifgiz, Project Coordinator Muhammad Kekalov, and reporters Hafiz Babali, Nargiz Absalamova, and Elnara Gasimova on charges of currency smuggling. These journalists are among 13 employees of four independent media outlets charged with currency smuggling.

Abzas Media Director Ulvi Hasanli received death threats in Baku Pretrial Detention Center No. 1, his wife Rubaba Guliyeva reported. She said that although her husband and lawyer filed complaints with the pretrial detention center management, no action was taken. Gasanly shares a cell with a person who constantly provokes, threatens, and attacks him. Gasanly believes that this person is being kept with him intentionally to provoke him.

Последние новости
Russia released Azerbaijani Yusif Khalilov following the return of Yevgeny Belousov
Politics
Russia released Azerbaijani Yusif Khalilov following the return of Yevgeny Belousov
26 October 2025

As a result of mutual agreements between Moscow and Baku, a detainee exchange took place. Russia released Yusif Khalilov, the leader of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Voronezh, in response to Azerbaijan's release of Yevgeny Belousov, editor-in-chief of Sputnik Azerbaijan.
Germany deported Zelimkhan Khangoshvili's relatives to Georgia
Human rights
Germany deported Zelimkhan Khangoshvili's relatives to Georgia
25 October 2025

German authorities deported 48 people to Georgia, including the brother and other relatives of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Chechen field commander and Georgian native killed in 2019.
Mehman Huseynov called the Azerbaijani president's family
Politics
Mehman Huseynov called the Azerbaijani president's family "agents of Russia."
25 October 2025

Prominent Azerbaijani opposition blogger, human rights activist, and former political prisoner Mehman Huseynov published a video with the caption: "The thief Ilham Aliyev and his family are agents of Russia. The Aliyev family has occupied our country."
Moscow Adds Azerbaijani Publicist to Foreign Agent List
Human rights
Moscow Adds Azerbaijani Publicist to Foreign Agent List
24 October 2025

Russia has added Ruslan Suleymanov, an Azerbaijani orientalist and employee of the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA) and the CBC-Azerbaijan television channel, to its list of foreign agents.