European human rights defenders alarmed by persecution of journalists in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is among the countries in Europe with the highest number of journalists kept in prison, with 30 at the end of 2024, reports the Council of Europe (CE) Platform for the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists.

The CE Platform’s report identifies the risks and threats faced by journalists in Europe in 2024.

In addition to the problems with safety of journalists during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the report identifies digital surveillance, transnational repression of reporters, in particular from Russia and Belarus, and the trend of media takeovers by governments in some countries.

The report highlights the growing threat of disinformation, including content generated by artificial intelligence, and state propaganda, used to manipulate public opinion and undermine independent journalism.

In 2024, the CE Platform’s partners issued 266 alerts on physical attacks, intimidation, and detentions. The countries with the most alerts were Ukraine (40), most of them related to the Russian-controlled territories, Russia (32), Turkey (28), Serbia (20), and Georgia (18). Georgia faced the sharpest increase in alerts, more than tripling compared to the previous year, largely because of attacks on journalists during pro-European protests.

Emin Guseinov, an exiled Azerbaijani human rights defender and co-founder of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS), believes that the CE Platform’s report does not reflect all the facts of persecution of journalists in Azerbaijan.

“In particular, the CE Platform’s report does not include Teymur Kerimov, the head of the ‘Kanal 11’ YouTube project, who was arrested in December 2023 on the charges of extortion ... This case is clearly fabricated. Teymur Kerimov was covering protests and the arbitrariness of officials, for which he was detained. Moreover, the CE Platform’s report does not include the case on the murder of journalist Avaz Khafizli, a member of the LGBT* community,” Emin Guseinov stated.

The human rights defender has pointed out that repressions against journalists in Azerbaijan continued in 2025.

“Since the beginning of the year, four journalists have already been arrested, including Farid Ismailov, Shamshad Aga, Nurlan Gakhramanly, and Fatima Movlamly. Another detainee, Shakhnaz Beylargizi ... remains under investigation,” Emin Guseinov noted.

*On November 30, 2023, the Supreme Court (SC) of the Russian Federation declared the movement an “extremist organization” and banned the “international public movement of LGBT people.” With this decision, the court satisfied the claim of the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ), sent to the court on November 17, 2023.