Aninvestigation published on Thursday revealed that the mobile phones of at least 12 Armenian public figures and officials, including journalists and human rights defenders, were infected with the cutting-edge spyware Pegasus during the country's war with Azerbaijan.

Revealing photographs of journalists and activists are proliferating on social media. Many Azerbaijanis, and the women themselves, suspect they were planted by the country’s authoritarian government as revenge against speaking out. The government denies the claims.

Narmin Shahmarzade (front right), a women’s rights activist, protesting against the political use of revenge porn. (Photo: Meydan TV)

A Telegram channel began publishing the private Facebook messages and photos of Azerbaijani opposition activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev on Friday, a week after heannounced he would no longer drink water as part of his ongoing hunger strike in protest against his detention.

Until last year, Rovnag Abdullayev headed Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, where he made a modest official salary. Yet his son Rashad purchased an ultra-expensive property in London’s Grosvenor Square at the age of 25.

Turkish businessman Emin Uchar has made a fortune in Nakhchivan, an autonomous Azerbaijani territory between Iran, Turkey, and Armenia. New documents and interviews provide evidence he may have acted as a proxy for the family of autocrat Vasif Talibov, who ruled Nakhchivan for 27 years before resigning on December 21.

The Czech policeannounced on Tuesday that they have arrested a high-ranking mafia member wanted in the United States for “serious violent crimes.” Media identified the man as a Georgia-born Azeri who was involved in murders and kidnappings.

The strongman who ruled Azerbaijan’s remote region of Nakhchivan with an iron fist for the past 27 years resigned abruptly on Wednesday, marking the end of his autocratic and often brutal rule over the secretive exclave.

Azerbaijan’s State Security Servicearrested two high-ranking officials on Nov. 23 on charges of embezzling more than US$160 million.

Azerbaijani authoritiesarrested on Sunday the editor of an independent outlet and a lawyer known for defending journalists, activists and political prisoners, accusing them of bribery. Both have denied the allegations but will remain detained during a four-months-long investigation period.

A former high-ranking official of the Georgian State Security Service accused the former prime minister of personally ordering the 2017 abduction of an Azeri journalist who was then forcefully taken to neighboring Azerbaijan where a court sentenced him to prison in a trial that was seen as unfair.

An unknown man threatened a prominent Azerbaijani journalist with a knife and ordered her to stop reporting about a controversial murder trial she had been covering.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev appointed the chairman of a bank owned by his family members as the new governor to the country’s Central Bank. Opposition leaders see the move as Aliyev’s complete takeover of the country’s banking system.

Land registry documents show that an Azeri lawmaker purchased two luxury London homes for 26.5 million pounds (US$34.5 million) — even as U.K. authorities were investigating whether some of the money he had transferred to his family’s local bank accounts was linked to money laundering.

Leaked documents show two Azerbaijan state companies were set to siphon off $1.7 billion from Shah Deniz 2, which feeds the Southern Gas Corridor to Europe.

Villagers living near BP’s Sangachal terminal say they are suffering from health problems and sleep disruptions due to gas flaring.

Carrying a makeshift headstone with “Independent Media” written on it, a small group of journalists protested on Friday against a new media law, which they see as unconstitutional, further limiting independent journalism and violating human rights.

A former manager at the railway equipment company Bombardier Transportation in Sweden denied on Tuesday charges of paying a US$100 million bribe to win a contract in Azerbaijan.

The Pandora Papers revelations have for a second week prompted responses from those exposed by them, and from governments and civil society groups, who have either completely denied, or belittled the findings, or pledged to take action.

Since The Pandora Papers were unveiled less than 10 days ago, their findings have become the subject of European Commission media briefings, state leaders’ press conferences and government statements, while the world watches on to see what authorities will actually do.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday in favor of a group of Bosnians who sued Azerbaijan more than a decade ago for cross-border human trafficking and forced labor.