Dozens are arrested in the latest wave of crackdown on independent voices

Economist and journalists face pre-trial detention amidst smuggling allegations

On June 1st, Khatai District Court sentenced independent economist Farid Mehralizada to 3 months and 20 days of pre-trial detention following his arrest by Baku City Main Police Department on May 29th. The economist is the 8th person recently arrested and accused of smuggling as a group and linked with the ‘Abzas Media case’ whereas the outlet issued a statement denying any involvement. Farid and others – 7 investigative journalists and associates of media outlet – are all accused of smuggling foreign funds into the country who all deny the charges and point to the political motivation behind their arrest. Accordingly, all defendants claim that their arrest is due to their investigative journalism work exposing corruption schemes concerning high-ranking officials. Khatai District Court and Court of Appellate regularly grants the request of investigative authorities to extend the detention on remand and rejects motions of defendants to remain under house arrest despite convincing arguments. The group will collectively remain in pre-trial detention until September 2024, with some members having been detained since their arrest in November 2023. If found guilty, they could face up to 12 years in prison.

Wave of arrests in civil society and media under smuggling accusations

The economist’s arrest comes as one of dozens of such cases since November 2023. In the latest and seemingly the biggest wave of crackdown on civil society and free media since 2013-14, authorities have arrested at least 17 people linked to Abzas Media, Toplum TV, Kanal 13, Institute for Democratic Initiatives, Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center, Meclis.info and ‘Third Republic’ political platform. Among them are investigative journalists Ulvi Hasanli and Sevinj Vagifgizi, non-governmental organization leaders Akif Gurbanov, well-known human rights defenders Anar Mammadli, Alasgar Mammadli and others who are all accused of smuggling foreign funds into the country. All 17 people deny the charges, point at the pattern of arrests and charges and consider their arrests as politically motivated punishment to silence their critical human rights and journalism work. Both local and international human rights groups and organizations found the charges as bogus and called for the speedy release of all arrested concerning the case.