10. Silencing of Independent Media
On 30 December 2021, Azerbaijan’s Parliament adopted a new media law that further tightened restrictions on press freedom. The legislation drew widespread criticism from both domestic and international actors, sparking street protests by local journalists. Among its most troubling provisions, the law banned foreign funding and imposed restrictive controls on print, online, and broadcast outlets, as well as on individuals and groups producing audiovisual content.
In its legal assessment of the legislation, the Venice Commission found that Azerbaijan’s new media law aims to regulate almost all aspects of the media sector, including online outlets. It also noted that many provisions do not meet European standards on freedom of expression and media freedom, advising that the law should not be enforced in its current form.
Yet this was only the start. Over the next two years, the authorities went beyond legal restrictions to orchestrate the near-total dismantling of independent journalism in Azerbaijan.
In late 2023 and early 2024, authorities began targeting the staff of Abzas Media, one of the few outlets consistently reporting on corruption and human rights abuses. Journalists, including chief editor Ulvi Hasanli, editors, and correspondents, were arrested on charges ranging from “illegal business activity” to “smuggling”.
Soon, other media outlets were also targeted. Staff members of Meydan TV, an online outlet with a strong international following, were detained, interrogated, and charged in connection with vaguely defined “financial crimes.”
At the same time, Toplum TV, another independent platform providing coverage of political and social issues, came under sustained pressure, culminating in raids, multiple arrests of its contributors, and severe restrictions on its operations.
The editor-in-chief of independent broadcaster Kanal 13, Aziz Orujov, was detained on dubious charges – including alleged illegal construction – widely seen as politically motivated and has since been sentenced to two years in prison.
Arrests also extended to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the U.S.-funded outlet that had been forcibly closed in Azerbaijan in 2014. Farid Mehralizade, one of its local journalists, was detained and charged with financial crimes.
In June 2025, Azerbaijani courts sentenced six journalists from Abzas Media to prison terms ranging from seven and a half to nine years. They were convicted on charges of operating as an organised group to carry out financial crimes, including currency smuggling, money laundering, and tax evasion, allegedly connected to the receipt of unlawful funding from Western donors. International rights groups described the charges as “absurd and fabricated”. One of the journalists, Mehralizade, was sentenced to nine years in prison.
By early 2025, following the arrests of journalists, virtually all independent media outlets in Azerbaijan had been forced to shut down or suspend operations. Among them was Turan, the country’s oldest independent news agency, which closed its editorial office in February after sustained government pressure.
No new alternatives have appeared to fill this void. Instead, the space for independent reporting has shrunk to nearly nothing, leaving the media landscape almost entirely dominated by state-controlled and pro-government outlets.
As a result, Azerbaijani citizens are deprived of access to reliable domestic reporting, while journalists face an impossible choice: exile or imprisonment.
According to international rights groups, there are at least 25 journalists currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. Baku also holds the highest number of incarcerated media workers in its Council of Europe membership history. Websites of many independent outlets have remained blocked since 2017.