Two more individuals associated with an independent Azerbaijani television station were arrested on Saturday and entered not guilty pleas in court as part of an investigation into smuggling, according to one of their attorneys.
With these latest detentions, the total number of individuals facing charges related to Toplum TV has risen to nine, with two already placed under house arrest.
In Baku on Saturday, Alesker Mammadli, a co-founder of the station, and Ruslan Izzetli, from the civil society group Platform III Republic, were taken into custody.
Outside the court, attorney Agil Layij reported that both Alesker Mammadli and Ruslan Izzetli claimed innocence, asserting that they were being targeted for criticizing the authorities and expressing their intention to appeal.
The case against Akif Gurbanov, the founder of Toplum TV, and his team is part of a series of prosecutions that have raised concerns about press freedom in Azerbaijan among Western nations.
A lawyer representing Gurbanov stated that authorities discovered $30,000 in cash during a recent search at the offices of Platform III, where Gurbanov serves as board chairman.
Gurbanov denied any involvement with the money and dismissed the charges against him as politically motivated. His lawyer indicated plans to appeal the decision.
On Friday, two more associates of Gurbanov were detained, including another co-founder of Toplum TV and a member of Platform III Republic, with two Toplum TV journalists put under house arrest.
The U.S. State Department expressed deep concern over the initial arrests following a raid on Toplum TV’s premises on Wednesday, highlighting a trend of independent reporters being detained in Azerbaijan since late last year.
The Azerbaijani authorities defend their actions by claiming the journalists have legitimate cases to answer. In January, the foreign ministry accused the European Union’s ambassador of interfering in the judicial system for criticizing the treatment of journalists.
In February, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was re-elected with over 92% of the vote, a process deemed unfair by Western observers. Despite criticism, Aliyev remains popular, especially after reclaiming the Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenians last year.
(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova in Baku, Editing by Ron Popeski and Chizu Nomiyama)
