Authorities must drop all charges against Abzas Media staff  - CPJ

Azerbaijani investigators charged six journalists from anti-corruption investigative outlet Abzas Media with seven new economic crimes in relation to alleged funding from Western donor organizations in recent days.

“Azerbaijani authorities’ move to throw new charges against Abzas Media’s jailed investigative journalists is testament to the vindictive impulse behind their prosecution of an outlet that has boldly exposed senior officials’ corruption,” said Gulnoza Said, Committee to Protect Journalist’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.

“Authorities must drop all charges against Abzas Media staff and immediately release all journalists detained over alleged receipt of Western financial support.”

Police arrested Abzas Media director Ulvi Hasanli, chief editor Sevinj Vagifgizi, project coordinator Mahammad Kekalov, and reporters Hafiz Babali, Nargiz Absalamova, and Elnara Gasimova between November 2023 and January 2024 on currency smuggling charges.

The journalists are among 13 media workers from four independent media outlets charged with currency smuggling related to alleged Western donor funding amid a decline in relations between Azerbaijan and the West.

The new charges are:

illegal entrepreneurship in relation to a large revenue

money laundering of a large sum

money laundering by an organized group

currency smuggling by an organized group

tax evasion by an organized group

document forgery

use of forged documents

The journalists deny the charges, a representative of Abzas Media told CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. They described the charges as “an attempt to end Abzas Media’s reporting on top-level corruption.”

The charges increased the potential maximum jail time from eight to 12 years, according to Hasanli and Gasimova’s lawyers, Zibeyda Sadygova and Bahruz Bayramov.