Fifty protesters were arrested whilst taking part in anti-government demonstrations in central Baku on Saturday. The protests in Fountain Square attracted 200 members of the opposition Musavat party, but they were soon dispersed by the police. The...
CATEGORY: Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan: Crackdown on anti-government activists
Two youth opposition activists, Sakhavan Soltanli and Rashadat Akhundov, were detained in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Tuesday. On 4 March, youth activist and former parliamentary candidate, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, was detained and given a pre-trial...

Azerbaijan: The long shadow
Investigative reporting is a dangerous business in Azerbaijan. On the anniversary of Elmar Huseynov’s murder, Natasha Schmidt is among those gathered in Strasbourg to call for release of independent journalist Eynulla Fatullayev
Azerbaijan: Journalist brutally beaten by policeman
On 14 February a journalist for the Azerbaijani newspaper Bizim yol was savagely attacked outside the President's residence. A policeman dressed in plain clothes attacked the journalist while he was recording protesters who had assembled near the...
Azerbaijan: Court frees “donkey blogger”
This morning Baku's Appeal Court ordered the release of blogger Adnan Hajizade, he had served half of his two-year sentence on controversial charges of hooliganism. His co-defendent, blogger, Emin Abdullayev – known as Milli, remains in prison...
Azerbaijan: Journalists on hunger strike
Ahead of a key poll, Azerbaijani journalists join jailed editor Eynulla Fatullayev on hunger strike. Vugar Gojayev
Read our new report Azerbaijan: Free expression under attack

PAST EVENT: Free expression under attack: Azerbaijan’s deteriorating media environment
Azerbaijan report launch Free expression under attack. 28 October. Free Word Centre, London

Azerbaijan: Free expression under attack
Observers including Index on Censorship’s Natasha Schmidt report on the country’s deteriorating media environment
Azerbaijan: a bleak landscape
Conditions for journalists are worsening in the run up to elections, reports Natasha Schmidt in Baku
Azerbaijan: Authorities refuse to investigate attack on journalists
Security guards who attacked two journalists may go unpunished after authorities refused to investigate the case. Elmin Badalov and Anar Gerayly were beaten by a wealthy businessman's private security guards on 28 July. The two newspaper reporters...
The government of Azerbaijan has curtailed the ability of its citizens to express dissent, expose corruption or press for respect of human rights.