Watchdog groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), are condemning the prosecution of seven independent journalists in Azerbaijan, characterizing the charges against them as “retaliatory” for reporting that strives to hold President Ilham Aliyev’s administration accountable for its actions.

The trial got underway on December 17 at a Baku criminal court. Six of the journalists, including top managers, are affiliated with Abzas Media, an outlet that gained popularity for hard-hitting reports exposing official malfeasance. The seventh individual on trial, Farid Mehralizade, is an economist who has worked with RFERL Some of the defendants had spent over a year in pre-trial detention, part of a sweeping crackdown on independent journalism in Azerbaijan since November 2023. 

The apparent political nature of the proceedings suggests that convictions are a foregone conclusion. A statement issued by CPJ nevertheless called on the charges to be dropped, highlighting the political roots of the criminal case. 

“The journalists are among more than 20 journalists and media workers charged with serious crimes in a major crackdown on the independent press and civil society in Azerbaijan,” the CPJ statement noted. “Most of the journalists, who hail from some of Azerbaijan’s most prominent independent media, have been arrested on similar currency smuggling charges related to alleged Western funding, amid a decline in relations between Azerbaijan and the West.”

On December 9, Abzas Media’s editor-in-chief, Sevinj Vagifgizi, was recognized as an Anti-Corruption Champion by US State of Secretary Antony Blinken for “her dedication to exposing high-level corruption in Azerbaijan.” 

Aliyev fired back at critics on December 18, defending the legitimacy of the financing-related charges. In doing so, however, he appeared to confirm the political motivation for the crackdown.

"Azerbaijani media cannot be financed even by 1 percent from any foreign source,” Aliyev said in an interview given to Russia’s chief spin doctor, Dmitry Kiselev. “Why? After all, we do not finance the US media. Right? Why should they finance ours? Because they, through their undercover resources like Voice of America and Radio Liberty, smear our people and country day and night, and cast a shadow over our victory over Armenia."

The next trial session is scheduled for December 28.

During the trial’s opening day, lawyers representing the defendants filed motions for the charges to be dropped, and for the defendants to be transferred from jail to house arrest. Both were denied. The defendants also asserted that the presiding judges in the case were biased. 

The trial was not open to the press, and family members of the defendants complained that authorities packed the courtroom in advance with hand-picked individuals so as to prevent independent observers from attending the proceedings.