Reporters Without Borders (RSF), under the banner of an international solidarity action, has staged reenactments of journalists’ prison conditions in the city centers of Berlin, Paris, and Bern to draw attention to the situation of media representatives in Azerbaijan.
The organization’s statement says:
During her 800 days in prison, Sevinj Vagifgizi, editor-in-chief of the independent investigative outlet Abzas Media, has been mistreated by prison staff, denied sufficient access to food and water and her personal belongings have been withheld. Vagifgizi, the editor-in-chief of AbzasMedia, was transferred after 675 days to a remote and inaccessible prison in order to further isolate her. She and 24 other independent Azerbaijani journalists are being detained because of their critical reporting.
Alena Shturuj, RSF’s advisor for Eastern Europe, stated:
“Torture, vermin, filth, and psychological intimidation—this is what independent journalists in Azerbaijan’s inhumane prisons are forced to endure for reporting critically on the regime. With this action, which recreates detention conditions, we make the systematic suppression of the press in Azerbaijan visible and remind the world that these media professionals defend the right to information and freedom of expression even behind bars. We call on democratic governments worldwide to increase pressure on the Azerbaijani authorities and President Aliyev.”
RSF writes that following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the oil-rich authoritarian state of Azerbaijan has become an important strategic energy partner for Germany and the European Union. Fossil fuel supplies are planned to be significantly increased by 2027, and since January 2026 Azerbaijan has been exporting natural gas to Germany. Over the years, the Azerbaijani authorities have achieved considerable lobbying success in several EU member states, including among members of the CDU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag (a scandal that became known as “caviar diplomacy”). At the same time, critical voices are systematically persecuted, arrested, and isolated.
Reporters Without Borders notes that corruption is deeply entrenched in Azerbaijan and is also reflected in prison conditions. For example, seriously ill journalist Alasgar Mammadli is being denied medical care, while journalist Nargiz Absalamova reports that doctors sometimes demand up to three times the normal price for medication and medical services.
Journalists’ contact with the outside world is particularly severely restricted, and they are pressured to stop writing about prison conditions. Most of them experience this as an especially heavy burden.
Despite threats and punishments, journalists remain outspoken and continue to report from prison about detention conditions. In a letter, reporter Nargiz Absalamova writes:
“Head lice are common among women in the Baku Pretrial Detention Center. Cells are very cramped and water shortages are constant. Hot water is provided only twice a week for two to three hours. Cold water is available for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening.”
The stories and faces of the 25 imprisoned journalists are at the center of RSF’s solidarity action. A four-square-meter container, matching the size of a solitary cell in a pretrial detention center, is equipped with a broken sink symbolizing poor water supply, insects that journalist Elnara Gasimova has called her “unwanted friends,” and dirt illustrating that imprisoned journalists are not even allowed to clean their cells. Visitors can listen to and read journalists’ quotes and reports inside the installation.
Sevinj Vagifgizi is the editor-in-chief of the independent outlet AbzasMedia, which primarily investigates corruption within the political elite. Recently, the newsroom exposed several corruption scandals surrounding the reconstruction process in Karabakh, revealing the non-transparent allocation of funds in favor of the President’s family and Turkish business partners.
The investigative journalist was an RSF fellow in Berlin in 2021, during which time it became known that she had been surveilled by Azerbaijani security services using the Pegasus spyware. Vagifgizi was arrested on the night of 20–21 November 2023. She and six other AbzasMedia staff members were accused of alleged currency smuggling.
During several waves of arrests, nearly identical criminal cases, which also alleged currency smuggling, were opened against independent journalists from Toplum TV and Meydan TV. Following an unfair trial marked by repeated violations of fundamental rights, Sevinj Vagifgizi was sentenced to nine years in prison.
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