Azerbaijan court sentences nine journalists to 12-15 years under media law

State repression against critical journalism continues in Azerbaijan. The questionable media law remains the basis.

Publication date: 2026-07-29 14:56

Ursula von der Leyen and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, Baku, July 1, 2026. Photo: President of Republic of Azerbaijan via Reuters

By Bernhard Clasen

A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced nine journalists from the media project Toplum TV to long prison terms. The defendants were accused of violating the media law, which prohibits financing from abroad.

• Akif Gurbanow and Ruslan Izzetli, who founded Toplum TV, each received 15 years in prison.
• Alesker Mamedli, media lawyer and co-founder, who is said to be seriously ill, received 14 years.
• All others – editors, project coordinators, reporters, and social media managers – were sentenced to 12 to 14 years.

All were accused of alleged money smuggling. It is unusual for this to be punished as harshly as treason, war crimes, and espionage.

In March 2024, Azerbaijani police arrested nearly the entire editorial team of Toplum TV. The outlet had made a name for itself with investigations into corruption in ministries, among high-ranking officials, and their families. Additionally, Toplum TV regularly reports on economic problems, social grievances, and the restriction of press freedom in Azerbaijan. Despite the arrests, the editorial team continues to work. The outlet's YouTube channel has around 100,000 subscribers.

Numerous Arrests Under Media Law

The recent verdicts against journalists are not the only ones. Arrests began as early as the end of 2023:

• At that time, two journalists from the platform "Kanal 13" were arrested. One was sentenced to two years in prison, while his colleague spent a year in pre-trial detention.
• Then Meydan TV was affected. Between December 2024 and May 2025, twelve employees were arrested. A court hearing has not yet taken place.
• This was different for the investigative outlet Abzas Media. Six employees received prison sentences ranging from seven and a half to nine years in June 2025. The outlet reported, for example, on the economic activities of the circle surrounding President Ilham Aliyev. Another convicted person was a journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

All the indicted and convicted journalists fell victim to the Azerbaijani Media Law, which came into force in 2022. With this law, the government significantly expanded state control over media and journalists. In the following years, the law was amended and further tightened several times.

Electronic Register for Journalists

One innovation is that journalists must register in a special electronic register. Those who are not included in this register lose the ability to work legally as journalists. Furthermore, the law introduced strict restrictions on foreign financing and international grant funds. Many independent media outlets, which had previously relied on support from abroad, thus lost important sources of revenue.

At the same time, the authorities tightened criminal liability for the dissemination of information classified as "false" or potentially harmful to "public order."

Shortly before the visit of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July, imprisoned Azerbaijani journalists, in an open letter to von der Leyen, called on the EU not to subordinate its values to economic interests.

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