Baku Court Hands Radio Free Europe Journalist Mehralizada 'Outrageous' 9-Year Prison Sentence

A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced journalist and economist Farid Mehralizada to nine years in prison on charges he says are tied directly to his critical reporting for RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service, known locally as Azadliq Radiosu.

The Baku Court of Serious Crimes convicted Mehralizada and six other journalists on June 20, all of whom denied any wrongdoing.

In his final statement, Mehralizada said he understands "that the verdict you will read will not be the verdict of the judges, but of those who ordered our arrest."

"If they want, they can issue a life sentence for us, or even change the criminal code, restore the death penalty, and send us to execution. Because in countries where the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary are not respected, judicial processes are nothing more than a fake smile from authoritarian governments," he added.

RFE/RL Journalist Marks Year Behind Bars In Azerbaijan

Rights groups condemned the sentence, with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) telling RFE/RL the case "is a travesty of justice."

"We stand in full solidarity with Farid, who has shown extraordinary courage and moral clarity in the face of oppression," RSF Editorial Director Anne Bocande said.

"RSF calls for his and Abzas Media's journalists immediate and unconditional release, and urges democratic governments to hold Azerbaijan accountable for this assault on press freedom."

Mehralizada was first held on May 30, 2024, when security agents jumped him, put a hood over his head, and whispered in his ear, "You talk too much."

On June 1, 2024, a Baku court placed Mehralizada in pretrial detention for “conspiring to smuggle foreign currency” in connection with a case Azerbaijani authorities brought against Abzas Media.

Immediately following the arrest, Abzas Media issued a statement asserting that Mehralizada had no direct involvement with the outlet and was one of many experts whose comments appeared on its website.

The founder of Abzas, Ulvi Hasanli and its editor-in-chief Sevinj Abbasova (Vagifqizi) also were sentenced to nine years in prison on June 20.

Abzas employee Mahammad Kekalov was handed seven years and six months, while the editor of the Turan Information Agency Hafiz Babali was given nine years, and journalists Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova to eight years each in prison as part of the case.

During his trial, Mehralizada carefully laid out the circumstances of his arrest as evidence that the case was politically motivated as a response to his "critical opinions regarding the social and economic policies implemented in Azerbaijan."

"Farid has already lost a great deal," RFE/RL President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Capus said in a statement.

"Unjustifiably detained for more than a year, he missed the birth of his child, and now waits for elusive justice. Denying this man his fundamental rights is unnecessarily cruel. Instead of perpetuating this sham, it’s time to reunite Farid with his family."

Mehralizada's work has highlighted that his economic analyses frequently criticized Azerbaijan's reliance on oil and gas and questioned official unemployment and poverty statistics.

He was first charged with smuggling, but additional charges, including illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, gang smuggling, and document forgery, were subsequently added -- accusations he and his supporters called fabricated and further evidence that the case was being driven by political forces.

Since taking power following the death of his predecessor and father, Heydar Aliyev, in 2003, President Ilham Aliyev has faced accusations of suppressing dissent by detaining journalists, opposition figures, and civil society activists.

That trend appears to have accelerated recently, with more than 30 journalists and human rights defenders arrested on similar charges that international institutions regard as politically motivated.

Yet Azerbaijani authorities consistently deny these characterizations. In the case of Mehralizada and others recently detained, the government insists that their arrests stem from specific criminal acts, not political reprisal.

"With almost 20 other journalists facing trial on similar charges, the international community must be clear that there can be no more 'business as usual' with Azerbaijan if it mass incarcerates members of the press," Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement just ahead of the verdict.