General documents - Joint statement on the harsh prison sentences for journalists, researchers and activists in politically motivated cases in Azerbaijan - Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee
on the harsh prison sentences for journalists, researchers and activists in politically motivated cases in Azerbaijan
Brussels, 25 June 2025 - "We are appalled at the shockingly harsh prison sentences in politically motivated cases in Azerbaijan given to journalists, researchers and activists over the last days. None of them or the other political prisoners in the country should have been prosecuted in the first place. But the extraordinarily heavy sentences mark yet another escalation in the relentless repression of regime critics in Azerbaijan.
On 23 June 2025, Bahruz Samadov, researcher at the Charles University in Prague and activist advocating for peace with Armenia, arrested in August 2024, was sentenced to 15 years on flimsy charges of treason, after going on a hunger strike and reportedly attempting suicide a few days earlier.
On 20 June 2025, independent news outlet Abzas Media collaborators including its director Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Abbasova Vagifgizi, journalists Hafiz Babali, Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova, coordinator and activist Mahammad Kekalov, as well as RFE/RL journalist Farid Mehralizada were all given sentences ranging from seven and a half to nine years, based on trumped-up charges of smuggling foreign currency and money laundering. The arrests of the Abzas Media team in November 2023 marked the beginning of the current wave of repression, while Farid Mehralizada was detained in May 2024.
We recall that just a few weeks ago, Talysh minority historian Igbal Abilov, the editor-in-chief of the Talysh National Academy News magazine, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on treason charges, while opposition activist Tofig Yagublu was sentenced to 9 years in a sham trial in March 2025. These are just some cases out of the staggering number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan which has grown rapidly to almost 400 over the last couple of years.
We reiterate in this context Parliament's calls for EU sanctions to be imposed under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime on responsible Azerbaijani officials and call on the High Representative/Vice-President and the European External Action Service to avoid any steps that would risk to embolden the regime on the current path. We recall that Parliament repeatedly demanded that any future partnership agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan be made conditional on the release of all political prisoners and on the improvement of the human rights situation in the country."
