Prosecutors in Azerbaijan on May 20 asked a court to sentence journalist Farid Mehralizada to 12 years on smuggling charges that he says are politically motivated and tied directly to his critical reporting for RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, known locally as Azadliq Radiosu.
Mehralizada is one of seven journalists on trial for what they say are trumped up charges. Prosecutors also asked for 12-year sentences for Ulvi Hasanli, the director of the AbzasMedia independent news agency, and journalist Hafiz Babali.
The prosecution asked for 11-year sentences for four others in the case: Sevinj Vagifqizi, Mahammad Kekalov, Nargiz Absalamova, and Elnara Gasimova.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 10.
Mehralizada, 30, has described being blindfolded during his arrest in May 2024 and then taken to an unknown location before ending up at the Baku City Police Department, where he said he faced physical and psychological pressure to unlock his phone.
"One of the policemen told me, 'You're a young man. Do you really need Azadliq Radiosu? Just keep your head down and live your life,'" he testified at an earlier court session. "This shows that my arrest was indeed connected to my articles for Azadliq Radiosu."
Additional charges, including illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, gang smuggling, and document forgery, have since been added to his case -- accusations he and his supporters call fabricated.
He said prosecutors falsely claimed he held a role with the independent Abzas Media news agency, which has come under pressure from the authorities.
Mehralizada has highlighted that his economic analyses frequently criticized Azerbaijan's reliance on oil and gas and questioned official unemployment and poverty statistics.
Having been kept in custody since his arrest last year, he told the court that his child was born during his detention and that he has been unable to see his family.
Azerbaijani authorities insist there is no political motivation behind Mehralizada's detention and that no one in Azerbaijan is held for political reasons.
Rights groups, however, point out that, since November 2023, approximately 20 journalists and social activists have been detained on similar charges, seven of them linked to Abzas Media.
Human rights organizations estimate that at least 300 political prisoners are currently held in Azerbaijani jails, underscoring ongoing criticism of President Ilham Aliyev’s administration.
Since taking power following the death of his predecessor and father Heydar Aliyev in 2003, Ilham Aliyev has faced accusations of suppressing dissent by detaining journalists, opposition figures, and civil-society activists.
