Elchin Ismayilli, a journalist residing and working in the Ismayilli District of Azerbaijan, was arrested on 17 February charged with extortion, committed repeatedly, and abuse of power. Ismayilli denies the accusations and says his detention is connected to his work as a journalist.
According to the authorities, Ismayilli threatened to smear an official from the Tourism and Culture Department of Ismayilli District unless he handed over money. Ismayilli was arrested while receiving the money.
However, he says the case against him is fabricated. According to Ismayilli, he has known the alleged victim since 2003, and they had a good relationship. ‘A month ago, Elchin asked to borrow ₼1,000 ($560) from him. Two days prior to his arrest, the man said the he could lend the money to Elchin, and that’s when he was detained’, Caucasian Knotquoted Ismayilli’s lawyer as saying. According to the lawyer, Ismayilli refrained from naming the official who transferred the money.
Ismayilli is also a member of a political party, the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA). The Deputy Chairman of the PFPA, Gozal Bayramly, told Caucasian Knot that Ismayilli was arrested for ‘having denounced the illegal actions of officials’. ‘Generally speaking, Elchin always wrote about illegality, unresolved social problems, violations of local residents’ rights’, he added.
Ismayilli has worked for several media outlets in the country, including Radio Azadlyg, the Azerbaijani arm of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Caucasian Knot reported that Ismayilli was attacked by unidentified individuals in the village of Buynuz in Ismayilli District on 26 May 2014, while investigating a complaint by villagers about a local restaurant that was connected to the local water network, leaving villagers with no water.
On 2 June 2015, he was detained in the town of Ismayilli charged with disobeying the police, but the court issued him with a warning and released him.
MeydanTVreported that Ismayilli’s case was referred to the Investigation of Grave Crimes Department of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan. On 18 February, Nasimi District Court ordered he by detained for 24 days as preventive measure. He is at the Kurdakhany detention centre.
Ismayilli’s case comes at a time when Azerbaijan is facing criticism internationally for cracking down on media freedom. In January 2017, American rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that independent media outlets faced harassment and closure, and critical journalists faced threats and intimidation aimed at silencing them.
The government continued its thorough crackdown on dissenting voices throughout 2016, leaving a wide gap in Azerbaijan’s once vibrant independent civil society, HRW mentioned in its annual report. According to HRW, despite releasing 17 human rights defenders, journalists, and political activists imprisoned on politically motivated charges, at least 25 government critics remain wrongfully imprisoned, including political activists and bloggers arrested in 2016.
Over the last month, Azerbaijan’s official government news agency Azertac has published multiple articles focusing on ethnic Azerbaijani candidates running for the ruling Georgian Dream party, while failing to provide a platform for Azerbaijani opposition candidates.
On 16 October, Azertac interviewed Georgian Dream MP Zaur Darghalli, who said that his party had guaranteed stability in Georgia, and elaborated on how it was able to keep the peace for the last 12 years.
‘These elections are
Ethnic Talysh activist Mirhafiz Jafarzade, who advocated for the creation of Talysh school textbooks in Azerbaijan, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of treason.
Jafarzade, who is also a Russian citizen, was found guilty of treason in the form of espionage on Thursday. Jafarzade was detained by the authorities in November 2022.
That day, pro-government media reported that the trial had determined that Jafarzade worked ‘in secret cooperation with foreign special services
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said Azerbaijan is taking ‘constructive’ actions to facilitate the right to return of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, as evidence mounts of the demolition of residential and cultural heritage buildings in Nagorno-Karabakh.
‘We have repeatedly commented on and emphasised the constructive steps taken by Baku to provide the population that left their native places with the opportunity to return there’, Zakharova said during a press briefing o
Peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan appear to be at a standstill as Armenia continues to push for an agreement to be signed ahead of November’s COP29 summit in Baku.
On Tuesday, Sargis Khandanyan, an MP from Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party, told Armenpress that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered to organise a meeting to conclude and sign a peace agreement ahead of the summit, which is scheduled to be held in Baku between 11–22 November.
He said that Pashinyan made the offer
