New York, September 11, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by a September 9 Azerbaijani appeals court ruling upholding prison sentences of up to nine years for six members of Abzas Media, an anti-corruption investigative outlet, and U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Farid Mehralizada.

“The rejection of the appeals of seven journalists in the Abzas Media case only confirms that Azerbaijani authorities cannot withstand the outlet’s uncompromising coverage of alleged corruption by state officials,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Azerbaijan must free the journalists, along with nearly two dozen other members of the press arrested since late 2023.”

The Baku court upheld a June conviction charging that the journalists were acting as an organized group to commit a series of financial crimes, including currency smuggling, money laundering, and tax evasion — all linked to the alleged receipt of illegal Western donor funding. Abzas Media director Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifgizi, journalist Hafiz Babali, and Mehralizada were sentenced to nine years in prison; reporters Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova to eight years; and project coordinator Mahammad Kekalov to seven-and-a-half years.

As the judge read out the ruling, the journalists held up posters with slogans like, “Corruption is a crime, journalism is not a crime!”

Police raided Abzas Media’s office in 2023 and said they found 40,000 euros (US$46,800), accusing U.S., French, and German embassies of funding the outlet illegally.

Police arrested the six journalists over the following three months. In 2024, Mehralizada was also detained, though he and Abzas Media denied that he worked for the outlet.

The journalists are among at least 21 leading journalists and media workers jailed on charges of receiving funds from Western donors since late 2023, amid a decline in relations with the West.

Azerbaijani law requires civil society groups to obtain state approval for foreign grants, which authorities accused the outlets of failing to do. In rulings on similar cases, the European Court of Human Rights stressed that such an omission was punishable under Azerbaijani law by fines, not criminal sanctions. Independent experts say that authorities refuse to register independent organizations seeking foreign grants, making it impossible to legally receive them.

CPJ emailed the office of President Ilham Aliyev for comment, but did not receive a reply.