As COP29 opens, CPJ calls for jailed Azerbaijani journalists to be freed
With the opening of the United Nations annual climate talks in Azerbaijan on Monday, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on visiting delegations to press Azerbaijan to end its unprecedented media crackdown.
“With at least 15 journalists awaiting trial on charges that could see them jailed for between eight and 20 years, Azerbaijan’s treatment of the press is absolutely incompatible with the human rights values expected of a United Nations host country,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “CPJ calls on Azerbaijani authorities to release all unjustly jailed journalists and support press freedom, and for the United Nations to ensure that major events are not held in countries with dire human rights and press freedom records like Azerbaijan”.
On November 6, CPJ and 16 other international human rights organizations called on the European Union to raise directly with the government of Azerbaijan the deteriorating human rights situation in the country.
Over the last year, Azerbaijani authorities have charged at least 15 journalists with major criminal offenses in retaliation for their work, 13 of whom are being held in pretrial detention. Most of those behind bars work for Azerbaijan’s last remaining independent media outlets and face currency smuggling charges related to the alleged receipt of Western donor funds.
Politics
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On January 23, Hilal Mammadov, a member of the Public Council of the Talysh people of Azerbaijan (PCTP), was summoned to the State Security Service (SSS) of Azerbaijan. As he himself informed Turan, the summons was delivered to him today by officers from the Nizami district department of the SSS.
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On January 22, the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Jeyhun Bayramov, and the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, David Lammy, held a telephone conversation.
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The court records from the trial of Teymur Kerimov, the head of the YouTube channel Kanal-11, were falsified, the declaration distributed by Kerimov's colleagues. “The court documents are distorted. They misrepresented the testimony of citizens. For instance, the victim Leila Almaszadeh stated in court that she had no complaints against me. In court, she said, “Teymur did not ask me for money and did not receive any money from me.” However, the court protocol states that she is complaining about me and demands the removal of illegally recorded videos,” writes Kerimov.
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As a result of measures taken by the Nizami, Garadag, and Binagadi district prosecutors’ offices in Baku, the funds obtained by several agricultural product exporters have been returned to the country.
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