Azerbaijan jails Toplum TV journalists

PanARMENIAN.Net - An Azerbaijani court has delivered its verdict in the case against nine journalists and employees of the independent media outlet Toplum TV. The outlet's two co-founders were each sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Toplum TV was widely known for its investigative reporting, particularly on corruption in Azerbaijan. The defendants were convicted on financial crime charges, although prison terms of this length in Azerbaijan are more commonly imposed in cases involving convictions for treason, the BBC reported.

Toplum TV co-founders Akif Gurbanov and Ruslan Izzatli were each sentenced to 15 years in prison. Video editor Mushfig Jabbarov, along with project coordinators Ilkin Amrahov and Ramil Babayev, received 13-year prison terms. Ali Zeynalov, who was involved in training journalists, and Toplum TV founder Alaskar Mammadli were each sentenced to 14 years, while journalist Farid Ismayilov and social media manager Elmir Abbasov received 12-year prison sentences.

The report notes that Mammadli, a prominent media lawyer in Azerbaijan, is currently seriously ill.

Toplum TV became known for investigations into alleged corruption involving Azerbaijani ministries, government officials and their family members. The outlet also reported on the country's economic situation, censorship issues and social affairs.

The media organization continues to operate, maintaining its website and YouTube channel, which has about 100,000 subscribers. It now functions with a new editorial team.

In March 2024, Azerbaijani police searched and sealed the outlet's office, while nearly the entire editorial staff was detained.

A media law adopted two years earlier, which completely prohibits foreign funding of media organizations in Azerbaijan, enabled law enforcement authorities to accuse Toplum TV employees, along with representatives of other media outlets, of currency smuggling. Additional charges were later added, including illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering, tax evasion and document forgery.

In a resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the prosecution of Toplum TV journalists was described as an attempt to "silence critical voices" in Azerbaijan.

Human rights organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, also defended the journalists, stating that they had become "victims of the state's persecution of independent media in Azerbaijan."

The convictions of Toplum TV journalists are not the first criminal cases involving media representatives in Azerbaijan.

In June 2025, a court sentenced seven journalists to prison terms ranging from 7.5 to 9 years. Six of them were affiliated with Abzas Media, which published investigations into the business activities of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The seventh journalist worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Mass arrests of journalists in Azerbaijan began in late 2023 and continued throughout 2024. Entire editorial teams were imprisoned, while journalists who were able to do so left the country.

At the beginning of 2025, Azerbaijan demanded that key United Nations bodies, the International Committee of the Red Cross office, and several foreign media bureaus, including the BBC Azerbaijani Service, leave the country.

In addition, Baku suspended implementation of judgments by the European Court of Human Rights, a move announced both by the Council of Europe and by President Ilham Aliyev himself. Aliyev also said he did not rule out Azerbaijan's complete withdrawal from the Council of Europe as a possible next step.

In 2024, Ilham Aliyev commented on the cases against media organizations as follows: "We have completely settled this issue here. For example, Azerbaijani media cannot receive even one percent of its funding from foreign sources."

He also stated: "We do not finance media in the U.S., do we? Then why should they finance our media? Through resources under their control, such as Voice of America and Radio Liberty, they spread slander against our people and our country day and night."