New York, June 10, 2026 —The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Azerbaijan to drop charges against journalists and other individuals associated with leading independent news outlet Toplum TV after prosecutors on June 8 requested prison terms of up to 16 years on charges related to receipt and use of foreign funds.
“The outrageous prison terms sought by prosecutors for nine individuals whose work was linked to Toplum TV make it crystal clear that President Ilham Aliyev’s media crackdown is about instilling a climate of fear and retaliating against bold reporting,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Azerbaijan should immediately drop the case against Toplum TV and free more than two dozen journalists and media workers wrongly held behind bars.”
The nine defendants — who include journalists, a journalist trainer, project managers, and the founders of media outlets — face multiple financial crime charges and are accused of acting as an “organized criminal group” to obtain and use Western donor funds, in violation of Azerbaijani legislation, for four closely connected organizations: Toplum TV; the nonprofit Institute for Democratic Initiatives (IDI); Fakt Yoxla, a fact-checking platform run by IDI; and Third Republic Platform, a political group.
Prosecutors requested the following sentences for the listed individuals:
Alasgar Mammadli, Toplum TV founder and media lawyer – 15 years
Mushfig Jabbar, Toplum TV video editor – 14 years
Farid Ismayilov, Toplum TV reporter – 13 years
Elmir Abbasov, Toplum TV social media manager – 13 years
Ali Zeynal, IDI journalist trainer – 15 years
Ramil Babayev, IDI project coordinator – 14 years
Ilkin Amrahov, IDI project coordinator – 14 years
Akif Gurbanov, IDI chairperson and Third Republic Platform spokesperson – 16 years
Ruslan Izzetli, Third Republic Platform co-founder – 16 years.
Police raided the offices of Toplum TV and IDI and arrested most of those
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