In Azerbaijan, critical journalists face persecution and severe reprisals for their work, including arbitrary arrests, fabricated charges, unfair trials and long prison sentences in harsh detention conditions. This is reported by the human rights organization Amnesty International.

"The government crackdown against free media and dissent increased before the country hosted the UN climate change conference COP29 in November 2024. The authorities could not tolerate international attention on Azerbaijan’s human rights record, or to have its image tarnished by allegations of environmental malpractice, corruption or other government abuses. Therefore, the government targeted anyone who sought to criticize its record. After COP29, the crackdown only escalated further. The authorities have particularly targeted journalists from independent outlets like Abzas Media, Meydan TV, Toplum TV, Kanal 13, and Kanal 11, many of whom have been reporting on allegations of the misuse of power and corruption, environmental issues and human rights abuses.

Now, less than a year on from COP29, there are no independent national media outlets left in the country. Azerbaijan has the highest number of imprisoned media workers held on politically motivated charges in the country since it joined the Council of Europe in 2001," says the statement.