Sevinj Vagifgizi has been announced as the winner of the prestigious Anna Politkovskaya–Arman Soldin Courage in Journalism Award.

Sevinj Vagifgizi, the editor-in-chief of Abzas Media, who is currently in detention, has been named the 2025 laureate of the Anna Politkovskaya–Arman Soldin Courage in Journalism Award.

The award ceremony for this year took place in France at ESJ Lille, one of the country’s most prestigious higher education institutions in the field of journalism.

The jury included French media and communication expert Perrin Daubas, a representative of Reporters Without Borders; Belgian independent journalist and war reporter Wilson Fache; and French television journalist and reporter Martin Weil.

The award was announced by Pierre Haski, President of Reporters Without Borders, together with French-British investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Manon Loizeau.

The purpose of this award is to recognize the work of journalists and photojournalists who carry out the vital mission of informing society, particularly in conflict zones and in times of crisis.

Sevinj Vagifgizi was arrested in November 2023. Along with her, the director of Abzas Media, Ulvi Hasanli; project coordinator Mahammad Kekalov; investigative journalist Hafiz Babali; journalists Elnara Gasimova and Nargiz Absalamova; and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty contributor and economist Farid Mehralizade were also detained.

They were accused of smuggling and a number of financial crimes. All of them have denied the charges. On June 20, 2025, the Baku Serious Crimes Court sentenced Ulvi Hasanli, Sevinj Vagifgizi, Hafiz Babali, and Farid Mehralizade to nine years in prison. Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova were sentenced to eight years, and Mahammad Kekalov to seven years and six months. The case is known as the “Abzas Media case.”

On September 9, the Baku Court of Appeal upheld the verdict.

International media and human rights organizations have described these arrests as part of a campaign aimed at silencing independent media in Azerbaijan.

Journalist Sevinj Vagifgizi shared her thoughts about her late colleagues, in whose names the award is given, with Abzas Media.

“Because words are powerful, those who speak them are killed. And nowhere in the world are people from other professions murdered simply for doing their jobs. No one is killed for being a doctor, or for being an engineer. But in this world, there is always a statistic for journalists’ deaths. Every year, there is a count of how many journalists have been killed precisely for doing their work, for their critical reporting.

Anna and Arman were among those journalists. They were targeted by a government that may appear strong from the outside, but that retreats in the face of the power of words, and is afraid of that power.

I remember an interview Dmitry Muratov gave about Anna Politkovskaya. He said, ‘More than Anna Politkovskaya’s presence, it is her absence that creates a problem for us.’

But that was not entirely true. Anna’s presence was also a problem for the Russian government. For governments of that kind everywhere in the world, journalists like Anna have always been a problem. They have been seen as a problem. Journalists whom they could not silence, whom they could not turn into instruments of their own propaganda, were treated as a problem—and they worked to eliminate that problem.

But there were successors to Anna in that newsroom. Some of them became her successors by being killed. Others continue her work today by carrying out investigations. Even after six members of that newsroom were murdered, those investigators continued their work and did not allow Novaya Gazeta to be shut down. The publication continues to operate to this day. The newsroom is still at work.

Even now, when its government is at war and stands against the entire world, that newspaper continues to exist. Anna’s death was meant to mark the end of something. But it did not. It did not frighten the generations that came after her. They continued.

I believe that journalists who face all these hardships, exemplified by Anna and Arman, are truly among the foundational pillars of society—pillars that prevent governments from rendering themselves all-powerful.”

The Anna Politkovskaya–Arman Soldin Courage in Journalism Award is being presented for the third time.

Established in 2023, the award was first presented to Mexican journalist Marcela Turati. Despite the high risks associated with reporting in her country, she documents violence linked to drug trafficking and the social impact on society of the war against the cartels.

The jury also awarded a special prize to French-Afghan journalist Mortaza Behboudi. After being detained by the Taliban for 284 days because of his journalistic work, Behboudi was released on October 18, 2023.

In 2024, the jury gave special recognition to the work of Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and Palestinian journalist Basel Adra for their investigations into Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Both journalists are also members of the Israeli-Palestinian creative collective behind the documentary film No Other Land, which was released last year and won the Academy Award in 2025.

The award is usually presented each year on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, established by the United Nations in 2013 at France’s initiative. This day is dedicated to the memory of French journalists Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, who were killed in Mali. This year, for technical reasons, the award ceremony was held with a slight delay.

Through this award, France once again demonstrates its commitment to defending press freedom and honors the memory of two symbolic figures of courage in journalism who lost their lives in the line of duty. The first is Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered for her investigations into corruption, human rights violations, and the war in Chechnya published in Novaya Gazeta. These investigations cost her—and six of her colleagues—their lives.

The late journalist Anna Politkovskaya openly opposed the Russian army’s military operations in Chechnya and sharply criticized the Russian authorities for them.

Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead in October 2006 in the entrance of her apartment building in Moscow. Those who ordered the killing have still not been identified.

The second figure is Arman Soldin, the French-Bosnian journalist and photojournalist with Agence France-Presse, who was killed on May 9, 2023, while reporting. His work was dedicated to bringing the reality of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to the attention of the international community.