Twelve independent journalists stand trial as Azerbaijan’s ‘Meydan TV case’ gets underway

A trial against 12 Azerbaijani journalists that human rights experts have condemned as politically motivated has begun in Baku.

The case started with a series of arrests on December 6, 2024, carried out on charges of illegal currency smuggling. Six staff members of the independent media outlet Meydan TV were detained: Aynur Gambarova, Aytaj Akhmedova, Khayal Agaev, Aysel Umudova, Ramin Jabrayilzade, and Natik Javadly. The deputy director of the Baku School of Journalism, Ulvi Tahirov, was arrested the same day.

The investigation widened in February 2025 with the arrest of Shamshad Agaev, editor-in-chief of arqument.az and a regular contributor to Meydan TV, as well as freelance journalists Nurlan Gahramanli and Fatima Movlamly. In May, former Voice of America correspondent Ulviyya Ali was also detained, followed in August by freelance photojournalist Ahmed Mukhtar.

Investigators initially charged all 12 defendants with smuggling foreign currency, alleging that they were involved in an organized scheme. But after completing their investigation in August, Baku police laid additional charges. The defendants now face prosecution under eight articles of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, including illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, forgery, and property laundering obtained through criminal means. Convictions under these provisions carry sentences of up to 12 years in prison.

All of the journalists have denied the charges, saying the prosecution is a response to their professional activity and is politically motivated.

At the preliminary hearing on December 15, the court rejected most defense motions, including requests to allow filming of the proceedings, to replace pretrial detention with house arrest, and to dismiss the case on rehabilitative grounds. The defendants’ attorneys also said they were not granted access to all the case materials and that they were given insufficient time to review those they did receive.

Ahead of the trial, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release the defendants, as well as all other members of the press who have been affected by the government’s repression of independent media.

According to CPJ, at least 24 journalists are currently behind bars in Azerbaijan in connection with their work. In June 2025, six journalists from the investigative outlet Abzas Media were convicted in Baku on similar financial charges and given sentences ranging from seven and a half to nine years in prison.

Meydan TV was founded in 2013 by Azerbaijani human rights defender Emin Milli. Its editorial team is based in Berlin. The outlet publishes in Azerbaijani, Russian, and English, and is known for its investigations into corruption and human rights abuses in Azerbaijan.

In May 2017, the Meydan TV website was blocked in Azerbaijan. Around the same time, one of its journalists, Afgan Mukhtarli, was abducted in Tbilisi, Georgia, and transported to Azerbaijan, where authorities sentenced him to six years in prison on charges of smuggling and illegal border crossing. In 2020, Mukhtarli was released and deported to Germany.