The international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the sentences handed down to staff members of the Azerbaijani YouTube channel Toplum TV, describing them as further evidence of the persecution of independent journalists in the country.

On July 27, a court in Baku sentenced the channel’s director, Alesker Mammadli, to 14 years in prison. Journalists Ilkin Amrahov and Mushvig Jabbarov were sentenced to 13 years, Farid Ismayilov to 12 years, and social media manager Elmir Abbasov to 11 years, 11 months, and 28 days. They were found guilty of financial crimes, specifically smuggling and illegal business activities. The convicted individuals deny the charges, and their lawyers intend to appeal the verdicts.

"This baseless court ruling demonstrates the extent to which the judiciary in Azerbaijan is instrumentalized; the courts are subordinate to President Ilham Aliyev, and their decisions are used to silence the country's last remaining independent media outlets. While the president was paying a state visit to Germany in late July, media workers in his own country—who had irked him by telling the truth about his regime—were being sent to prison. They received shockingly harsh sentences—up to 14 years—that must be overturned. RSF calls for the immediate release of these journalists, who should never have been detained in the first place, as well as the release of their colleagues," RSF said in a statement.

RSF also noted that there are currently 26 media workers imprisoned in Azerbaijan. As noted in the statement, the organization is particularly concerned about the health of Toplum TV co-founder Alesker Mammadli, who suffers from thyroid cancer and is reportedly not receiving the necessary medical care in prison.