The IPI global network has condemned the 9-year prison sentence handed to Azerbaijani journalist Avaz Zeynalli, who had been in pre-trial detention since September 2022.

On February 27, a court in Baku found Zeynalli guilty of trumped-up extortion charges, which were earlier formulated against him and against lawyer Elchin Sadygov. Prosecutors accused the two of extorting approximately 10.000 euros from the wife of an Azerbaijani businessman imprisoned on charges of embezzlement, allegedly in exchange of favorable media coverage of the businessman’s case.

Zeynalli rejected the charges, saying that they were politically motivated, linked to his work as a journalist, and that he was a prisoner of conscience. In proceedings, he said that prosecutors provided no reliable evidence and that he did not know most of the witnesses produced by his accusers.

The journalist’s arrest in 2022 was condemned by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, who described Zeynalli as an independent journalist previously subjected to intimidation and harassment by authorities due to his critical stance. In a statement published at that time, the official’s office called for his release.

Prior to his arrest, Zeynalli was the head of Khural (Parliament, in Azeri), a leading independent internet TV channel. In 2022, the Azerbaijani service of the BBC quoted Zeynalli’s wife, who said that she believed her husband had been arrested for highlighting cases of alleged treason in the Azerbaijani armed forces, as well as for publicizing cases of human rights violations in the country’s prisons.

In the past, Zeyvalli had spent three years behind bars after similar charges of extortion were made against him by a former member of Azerbaijan’s parliament. He was released in 2014, before the end of his sentence.

Several years later, new accusations of extortion were formulated, this time by a pro-government media outlet. The accusations were then taken up by security forces, which ultimately led to the sentencing of Zeynalli on Tuesday.

“IPI firmly condemns the prison term handed to Avaz Zeynalli over trumped-up extortion charges,” said IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen. “We are deeply concerned that Zeynalli’s jailing reflects a wider pattern in Azerbaijan in which the authorities retaliate against critical journalists under the cover of apparently unrelated charges. We call on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release Zeynalli and stop harassing independent media.”

The chain of events in Zeynalli’s case matches testimonies recently made to IPI by prominent Azerbaijani human rights defender Anar Mammadli. In an interview, Mammadli explained that it is commonplace for pro-government media to organize smear campaigns against independent journalists and activists. Following such campaigns, authorities take up cases mentioned by these media and jail opponents, Mammadli said.

The sentencing of Zeynalli also comes weeks after a mass campaign of jailing of journalists conducted in the run-up to Azerbaijan’s presidential election, which were held on February 7 and were widely denounced as neither free nor fair. Authorities arrested no fewer than 10 journalists in the crackdown, which began with the detention of Abzas Media editor-in-chief Ulvi Hasanli on November 20.

Azerbaijani journalist and writer Arzu Geybulla noted that as Zeyvalli was detained well before these events, his sentencing on Tuesday is not directly linked to them. “But in the grand scheme of things, of course, his sentence is and should be viewed as part of a broader crackdown in Azerbaijan,” Geybulla told IPI.

She added that it was hard to determine whether there were chances for his release before the end of his sentence, as had happened following his imprisonment in 2011. “Given the harsher and bolder government [it cannot be ruled] out (…) that he would spend time behind bars, perhaps longer than he did last time,” Geybulla said.

As of March 1, 2024, no fewer than 10 Azerbaijani journalists jailed in the recent crackdown remain in prison, according to the Council of Europe Safety of Journalists platform, of which IPI is a member. Several more have been in jail since before the crackdown.