News

Elnur Shahverdiyev is a member of a political party ReAL, and an avid critic of the state on social media platforms. According to information provided by his brother, Shahverdiyev was detained by the police on July 14 at his place of work. “Police showed up at the bakery where Shahverdiyev worked, and said, there was […]

At least five servicemen were reportedly expelled from the army in August.  According to reports, on August 2, junior sergeant Sanan Farajov and private Yusid Bayramli were expelled from the army for having shared photos and videos from the military service on their personal social media accounts. In a statement released by the Ministry of […]

The questioning of political activist Ruslan Izzatli, on July 28 over his social media post renewed concerns over government oversight of social media platforms and its non-transparent approach to cherry-picking issues that it deems unfit for public discussion. Izzatli was not the first person to receive a call from the Prosecutor General’s Office last month […]

[UPDATE] By August 8, four more citizens were called in for questioning over their social media posts about the military operations in Azerbaijan reported Qaynarinfo.az. Rustam Ismayilbeyli, Farid Huseynov, Elmar Mammadov, Gulay Eyvazova were all invited to the Prosecutor’s Office where all four received a warning. Ismayilbeyli, who is a political activist, wrote on his […]

[Update] According to local media reports, Gafarov suffered a clinical death on December 22, 2022, while receiving treatment in a medical facility of the prison service. However, instead of keeping him at the medical facility, the prison management decided to transfer Gafarov back to prison.  Abid Gafarov, was sentenced to one year in prison on charges […]

Asgar Agazade was arrested last year following an accusation by a rape survivor. His victim, is an activist, Sanay Yagmur. Agazade has denied the accusation from the start however, seven months into the ongoing investigation and the trial, he is now facing a possible seven-year prison term. In addition, new evidence based on Agazade’s own […]

A man named Roman Mammadov, 39, in a video he shared on TikTok, threatened to behead men who behaved like women. The video that was circulated on social media, alarmed LGBTQ+ activists in Azerbaijan who demanded the Ministry of Interior take action. Eventually, Mammadov was detained. According to the officials, the investigation is ongoing. According […]

On June 23, Elchin Ibrahimli, a member of an opposition party was detained according to local news reports. He was sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention the following day, said members of the party. According  to reports, the activist allegedly resisted police and as a result was sentenced on charges of resisting the police […]

On June 10, lawyer and activist Ilham Aslanoglu was sentenced to six months in prison on insult charges according to reporting by Turan News Agency. Aslanoglu is known for his public investigation of the Terter case – a “notorious case in which dozens of military officers accused of spying for Armenia were tortured.” Aslanoglu’s lawyer […]

The Ministry of Digital Development and Transport blocked access to the Russian state-owned RIA-Novosti news site on June 3, according to reports by Azerbaijani media. In a statement issued the following day, June 4, the Ministry said the decision to block the Russian news website was a result of the news site running a story […]