Azerbaijan sentences nine Toplum TV journalists and media workers to up to 15 years

Click to expand Image Police removing journalists from Toplum TV on March 6, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. © 2024 Aziz Karimov/Getty Images An Azerbaijani court on July 27 sentenced nine journalists, media workers, and civil society activists to between 12 and 15 years in prison. It is the harshest verdict since the government began its ongoing crackdown on independent journalism.The Baku Grave Crimes Court handed down the sentences in the so-called Toplum TV case. Akif Gurbanov and Ruslan Izzatli, affiliated with the Third Republic civic platform which co-produced Toplum TV’s programming, received 15-year sentences. Toplum TV co-founder Alasgar Mammadli received a 14-year sentence, as did Ali Zeynalov, a researcher at the Democratic Initiatives Institute, an independent organization that supports public initiatives and promotes democratic principles, human rights, and transparent elections in Azerbaijan. Democratic Initiatives Institute staff members Ramil Babayev and Ilkin Amrahov and video editor Mushfig Jabbarov received 13 years each. Journalists Farid Ismayilov and Elmir Abbasov were sentenced to 12 years each.The authorities initially accused the nine of currency smuggling, later adding other financial crimes. All denied the charges and said the prosecutions were politically motivated.Toplum TV’s editor, Shahnaz Beylergizi, remains under a travel ban while authorities investigate her on similar charges, in a separate case.The sentences are the longest imposed during Azerbaijan’s yearslong campaign against independent media and civil society. They exceed the terms of between seven-and-a-half and nine years imposed on AbzasMedia journalists in June 2025 and upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2026.Toplum TV was among Azerbaijan’s last independent news outlets before the authorities began arresting its staff and associates in 2024. The authorities have used similar currency smuggling allegations against journalists from AbzasMedia and Meydan TV. The trial of 12 Meydan TV journalists and media workers remains ongoing.Azerbaijan’s restrictive regulatory framework has largely excluded independent media and civil society groups from lawful avenues for operating and accessing funding, forcing many to work at the margins of the law and leaving them vulnerable to retaliatory prosecutions on spurious financial charges.The Azerbaijani authorities should seek to have the convictions voided and those imprisoned released, and end the politically motivated prosecutions of journalists and media workers. Azerbaijan’s international partners should publicly condemn the sentences, press the authorities to release those imprisoned, and make clear that continued repression of independent media will have consequences for political, economic, and security cooperation.

Eight of the nine defendants sentenced to jail terms of up to 15 years in Azerbaijan in a case linked to Toplum TV.

New York, July 28, 2026 – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the extremely harsh prison sentences of up to 15 years handed down on July 27 to journalists and other individuals associated with leading Azerbaijani news outlet Toplum TV on charges related to receipt and use of foreign funds. “The shockingly heavy sentences meted...