Teymur Karimov’s Prison Sentence Reduced by One YearPublished: May 15, 2025

Teymur Karimov

On May 15, 2025, the Baku Court of Appeal partially granted the petition submitted by the lawyer of Teymur Karimov, head of the internet television channel Kanal11. As a result, Karimov’s prison sentence was reduced from 8 years to 7 years.

Karimov had been sentenced on December 28, 2024, by the Baku Serious Crimes Court. In addition to the prison term, the court banned him from engaging in journalistic activity for 2 years.

Reporter Istek Totiyeva, who was tried alongside him, received a suspended sentence with a 2-year probation period under Article 70 of the Criminal Code (suspended sentencing).

Karimov and Totiyeva were convicted under Article 182.2.1 of the Criminal Code (extortion committed by a group with prior collusion). According to the indictment, they demanded 10,000 manats from a person named Farrukh Alekperov to remove video content from their internet channel and ultimately received 1,000 manats. They were also accused of taking 300 manats from Leyla Almaszade.

During the trial, however, Almaszade stated that she had approached Karimov herself to report a problem, had not paid him, and did not have any complaints against him.

Karimov has denied the charges, stating: “The accusations against me are fabricated. I was imprisoned on orders, and the real reason for my arrest is my journalistic activity.” He emphasized that he had been targeted for documenting and publishing content about protest actions, human rights violations, and particularly instances of police brutality against Karabakh war veterans. He also testified in court that he had been subjected to torture and even threatened with sexual violence. The Ministry of Internal Affairs' press service has denied all allegations of threats and torture.

Context

Since November 2023, more than 30 journalists and civil society activists have been arrested in Azerbaijan in groups, facing charges such as smuggling and other offenses. Most of them reject the accusations and claim the arrests are politically motivated and aimed at silencing professional activities.

According to lists compiled by local human rights organizations, there are currently more than 350 political prisoners in Azerbaijani prisons. Government officials, however, consistently state that no one in the country is imprisoned for political reasons or their professional work.