On March 13, the court reviewed the cassation appeal of Ulvi Hasanli, the director of the publication, who is imprisoned in the “Abzas Media case.”

During the hearing at the Supreme Court, presided over by Judge Zaur Huseynov, Hasanli’s lawyer, Fakhraddin Mehdiyev, addressed the court. The lawyer said that the investigation materials contained numerous procedural violations.

According to him, the identities of several people who took part in the search and seizure at the Abzas Media office were not indicated in the official record.

“Although we later filed a motion asking the court to establish the identities of those individuals, it was denied. Our motion requesting that the 40,000 euros allegedly found in the office be sent for forensic examination was also rejected. The investigation materials are full of numerous procedural errors like these,” the lawyer said.

Fakhraddin Mehdiyev asked the court to terminate the case on exonerating grounds.

Speaking afterward, Ulvi Hasanli said that they had been punished for the corruption investigations carried out by Abzas Media.

“We were investigating the corrupt activities of Ilham Aliyev and those around him, how millions of funds were embezzled in Karabakh, and how the country’s money was transferred abroad through offshore companies. In the end, they turned around and accused us of the very crimes we had been investigating,” he said.

According to Hasanli, on the day he was detained at the Baku City Main Police Department, he was questioned about the corruption investigations in Karabakh:

“Although we are accused of smuggling and other financial crimes, on the day I was detained at the Baku City Main Police Department, I was asked not why we had investigated the liberation of Karabakh from occupation, but why we had investigated corruption there. This shows the essence of the case. We have been punished for exposing the actions of high-ranking officials.”

Ulvi Hasanli also objected to the absence of the other defendants during the hearing in a criminal case allegedly committed by a group, saying that this constituted a violation of the right to defense.

He asked the court to terminate the case.

At the end of the hearing, the court adjourned the proceedings for an indefinite period.

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Since November 2023, Abzas Media director Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifgizi, project coordinator Mahammad Kekalov, investigative journalist Hafiz Babali, reporters Elnara Gasimova and Nargiz Absalamova, and RFE/RL contributor and economist Farid Mehralizade have been in custody.

They are accused of smuggling and serious financial crimes, allegations they and their supporters, both in Azerbaijan and internationally, reject as politically motivated and linked to their journalistic work.

The pre-trial and trial phases together have lasted nearly two years.

On June 20, the Baku Serious Crimes Court sentenced Hasanli, Vagifgizi, Babali and Mehralizade to nine years in prison; Absalamova and Gasimova to eight years; and Kekalov to seven years and six months. On 9 September, the Baku Court of Appeal upheld the verdict.