Despite near-total government control over the media, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service has built a high-impact social-media presence in Azerbaijan and a reputation as a leading source of independent news.
The deaths of two ethnic Azerbaijanis amid allegations of torture during a police raid last week in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg has quickly escalated into a diplomatic confrontation highlighting difficulties in Moscow's relations with its former Soviet republics.
Farid Mehralizada, an economist and journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who has been in state custody for more than a year, was sentenced to 9 years on June 20 in Azerbaijan. He was detained in May 2024 after he publicly debunked state propaganda.
As a journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Farid Mehralizada became known for his analytical work that systematically debunked state propaganda in Azerbaijan. For the last year, it’s all he’s heard.
Farid Mehralizada, a journalist for RFE/RL, marked one year in prison on May 30. He was arrested after making public statements criticizing the Azerbaijani government. State authorities have charged him with smuggling, tax evasion, and forgery, but observers say the case is politically motivated.
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.
Journalist Farid Mehralizada, currently in detention, stated in court that his imprisonment is linked to his economic investigations and analyses published by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, known locally as Azadliq Radiosu.
The rival South Caucasus neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan look set to finalize a historic peace deal after agreeing on the final text of a treaty that would end more than three decades of hostilities.
People on the streets of Yerevan and Baku, the capitals of Armenia and Azerbaijan, reacted to news that the text of a peace agreement had been agreed between the two countries. If signed, the deal will put an end to decades of hostilities between the neighboring South Caucasus nations.
The United States has praised Armenia and Azerbaijan for concluding negotiations on a "historic peace treaty," marking a significant step toward ending decades of hostilities between the two nations.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s, have finalized the text of a long-awaited peace agreement aimed at establishing formal relations, marking a significant step toward ending decades of hostilities.
Azerbaijan has banned Russian State Duma lawmaker Nikolai Valuev from entering the country after he accused Baku of using Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia for criminal activities.
In Baku, Azerbaijan, the trial of 16 people, including former leaders of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, started after more than one year in pre-trial detention.
Following Azerbaijan's president calling for Moscow to accept blame for downing an Azerbaijani plane, there is growing public anger toward Russia for its apparent attempts to sidestep responsibility for the incident.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has accused Russia of trying to hide the cause of a deadly plane crash this week, calling on Moscow to admit responsibility.
The crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane in Kazakhstan on December 25 was caused by "external interference," according to Azerbaijan's transport minister. At least 38 of the 67 passengers were killed as it crash-landed near Aqtau.
An Azerbaijani lawmaker said the possibility is "very strong" that the crash of a passenger jet earlier this week was caused by Russian air defense systems on alert for Ukrainian drone attacks.
The head of Azerbaijan Airlines has joined hundreds of mourners in Baku to pay tribute to the victims killed in a deadly plane crash. The passenger jet went down near the city of Aqtau in western Kazakhstan. RFE/RL's Ainur Saparova is near the crash site where bodies are being recovered.
As the first seven survivors arrived back in the country on December 26, Azerbaijan observed a national day of mourning 24 hours after a passenger plane from the flag carrier, Azerbaijan Airlines, crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.
Experts say they believe the flight crew of an Azerbaijan Airlines jet that crashed on December 25 was struggling to control the plane in its last moments. No official cause has been given yet for the crash, which claimed dozens of lives.
The cockpit recorder has been recovered intact as authorities stepped up their investigation following the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet in Kazakhstan that killed at least 38 of the 67 people aboard on December 25.
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