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An Azerbaijani prosecutor has demanded prison sentences of up to 15 years for a team of independent journalists facing financial crimes charges, prompting fierce condemnation from international press freedom groups who describe the trial as a severe escalation in the country’s crackdown on the media.
During a hearing on June 8 at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, the state prosecutor, Rauf Malyshov, reportedly requested sentences ranging from 13 to 15 years for four staff members of Toplum TV, an independent news site known for its critical coverage of human rights abuses and state corruption.
The defendants—co-founder Alasgar Mammadli, video editor Mushfig Jabbar, reporter Farid Ismailyov, and social media manager Elmir Abbasov—were swept up in a March 2024 police raid on their offices. Authorities initially charged the journalists with "currency smuggling," later expanding the indictment to encompass a broader array of financial crimes.
The journalists have strongly denied the charges, arguing that the prosecution is direct retaliation for their investigative reporting.
The prosecution's demands in the case extend beyond the Toplum TV team. Malyshov also requested 16-year sentences for two prominent pro-democracy activists, Ruslan Izzetli and Akif Gurbanov, and terms ranging from 14 to 15 years for three other civil society workers who are being prosecuted in the same case.
The state prosecutor’s demands drew a prompt backlash from rights watchdogs, who have long accused the government in Baku of weaponizing the judicial system to silence dissent.
Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, told OCCRP that the sentencing recommendation "demonstrates that the authorities are not easing their assault on independent journalism but intensifying it." She added that “international pressure has so far failed to halt the repression,” urging those with “influence and leverage” over Azerbaijan to intervene.
Press freedom advocates noted that the requested prison terms mark an escalation in the state's tactics.
Jeanne Cavelier, head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk at Reporters Without Borders, told OCCRP that the prosecutor’s request “appears designed not only to punish critical reporting, but to retaliate against outspoken critics of the government and deter other journalists from continuing their work, even from behind bars."
Cavelier pointed out that the proposed sentences are significantly “harsher” than those handed down just a year ago. In June 2025, the same Baku court sentenced staff members from the investigative outlet Abzas Media and a journalist at RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani service to up to nine years in prison following a financial crimes trial that international observers widely condemned as a sham.
“The severity of these proposed sentences underscores just how threatened Azerbaijani authorities are by reporting that exposes high-level corruption,” said Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Toplum TV staff are among at least two dozen media workers who have been detained since late 2023 in what rights groups describe as an unprecedented crackdown on the free press in Azerbaijan. Many of those detained have been charged with financial offenses. Among those targeted are journalists from OCCRP’s member center Meydan TV, who currently face up to 12 years in prison following their arrests in December 2024.
Struthers, Cavelier, and Said all urged for the immediate release of all of the detained Azerbaijani journalists and media workers.
The trial of the Toplum TV journalists and their co-defendants is set to continue, with the next court date scheduled for June 22.
