News

When Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, was detained in France, the first thing I noticed was that he had arrived in France from Azerbaijan. Naturally, the first question that came to mind was what Durov was doing in Azerbaijan. Thanks to his assistant Julia Vavilova or Juli Maletc, as she is known on Instagram, that question […]

According to local media reports, the ministry of education adopted a series of amendments to the “Rules of ethical behavior of educators” document on May 15. According to the changes, educators (as in all teachers and academics employed within the institutions under the Ministry of Education) must adhere to the principles of lawfulness, honest behavior, […]

Famil Khalilov, 34, is Azerbaijani civic activist who was arrested on May 2, 2024. Khalilov was extradited from Sweden in 2023 and since then, lived in Azerbaijan together with his wife and three children. The activist suffers from cerebral palsy and is officially classified with a first degree disability. Authorities however accuse the activist of […]

On March 6, police stormed the office of Toplum TV, an online news platform in Baku. While the office was searched, the police questioned some fifteen staff members. Among those detained were interns and the tech team. While nine were released after questioning, at least six other journalists were sent to pre-trial custody on bogus […]

According to local media reports, SalamNews and InterAz founder and editor Matlab Baghirov appeared in court on February 27, 2024. He has been in pretrial detention since January 31, 2023. According to pro-government media, Baghirov was accused of operating an Iranian spy network. The Ministry of the Interior confirmed these allegations in an interview with […]

Farid Suleymanov was arrested on January 8, 2024. He was sentenced to 30-day administrative detention. And although Suleymanov was scheduled for release on February 7 – the day of snap presidential elections – he was instead taken back to BandOtdel – the department for combating organized crime at the Ministry of the Interior.  Suleymanov is […]

Arzu Sayadoglu, known as a blogger who often critiques the state officials and the government, was reportedly arrested on January 28, 2024. According to family and friends, the blogger first went missing after an interview with an opposition YouTube channel, AzadSoz. It was announced two days later that the blogger was arrested and sent into […]

In Azerbaijan’s southern region of Lenkoran, residents complained of power cuts. According to reporting by Meydan TV, heavy snowfall in the area since January 14 caused power cuts and disruptions to access to telecommunications across several villages and in the city itself. In one village, there was no internet for a week after the snowfall, […]

Kanal11 editor Teymur Karimov first reportedly went missing on December 11. But the same day, the Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed Karimov’s whereabouts in a statement saying Karimov was detained and charged with extortion. The founder and director of Kanal11, Karimov, was sent to four months of pre-trial detention.  If convicted, Karimov will face five […]

A court in Baku ruled to block access to the YouTube channel of Kanal13 on December 20, 2023. Kanal13’s director, Aziz Orucov, was detained in November 2023. A former political prisoner [he was sentenced to six years in 2017 but released on parole a year later], Orucov, was first detained on bogus property rights violations. […]