CPJ Condemns Azerbaijani Authorities’ Harassment of Journalists in Exile

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Azerbaijani authorities to stop harassing journalists in exile after a court on January 14 sentenced U.S.-based journalist Sevinc Osmangizi to eight years in prison in absentia on charges of inciting mass riots and attempting to overthrow the state. This decision, as noted in the CPJ statement, follows a seven-year prison sentence handed down on December 23, 2025, by an Azerbaijani court to France-based journalist Ganimat Zahid on charges of calling for the state's overthrow.

Both Azerbaijani journalists, who have received political asylum in their countries of residence, told CPJ that they deny the charges and view them as retaliation for their journalistic work.

"Having crushed independent journalism within the country through mass arrests and sham trials, Azerbaijani authorities are now seeking to intimidate leading expatriate journalists into silence," said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. "Azerbaijan must stop this egregious transnational repression. European states and the U.S. must ensure full protection for expatriate journalists persecuted by Azerbaijan," she added.

The journalists convicted in absentia informed CPJ that the only information they received regarding the charges against them came from brief reports in the Azerbaijani mass media.

Osmangizi called the "charges completely fabricated." "This is what they use against critics both at home and abroad," she said.

Osmangizi, a former BBC correspondent, fled Azerbaijan in 2012 under government pressure due to her work at the now-defunct ANS television station. Since 2019, she has run the YouTube channel Osmanqizi TV, which has over 400,000 subscribers and is one of the most popular resources in Azerbaijan for current events analysis, the CPJ statement said.

In 2019, CPJ reported on how pro-government media threatened to publish intimate photos of Osmangizi if she did not cease her activities. In 2024, a prominent member of the Azerbaijani parliament called her a "legitimate target" for "neutralization by any means," the CPJ statement emphasized.

"These decisions are the result of unprecedented crackdowns on civil society and independent media in Azerbaijan that began in late 2023, leaving at least 26 journalists and media workers currently behind bars. Over the past year, Azerbaijan has brought serious criminal charges in absentia against dozens of government critics living in exile," the CPJ statement points out.