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July 22, 2025 – Azerbaijan –
Sevinj Vagifgizi, editor-in-chief of the independent news outlet Abzas Media, is serving a 9-year prison sentence imposed on June 20 on false charges of foreign currency smuggling. From her cell in Baku, she penned a powerful letter to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in which she warned that Azerbaijani authorities treat every question from the press as a threat and demand nothing less than total obedience.
Vagifgizi highlighted the stark contrast between the government’s boastful statements on National Press Day (July 22) and the grim reality for journalists behind bars. She pleaded for Western democracies, often more interested in economic deals like energy exports, to shift from passive expressions of concern to swift, decisive action. Many imprisoned journalists feel abandoned. Vagifgizi reports her loved ones and lawyers say they hear again and again that the detained “have been forgotten.” RSF is now amplifying her urgent call not only for her release but for that of 24 other journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan on politically motivated charges.
RSF reports that in Azerbaijan, there are currently 25 journalists behind bars, some convicted, others charged, based on manipulated legal proceedings. Vagifgizi’s letter underscores a tactic of authoritarian regimes worldwide: suppress critical press coverage not by denying its existence but by punishing those who ask inconvenient questions.
Her central message is loud: conducting critical journalism does not mean journalists do not belong in their own countries. Vagifgizi insists that independent reporting is not interference but a fundamental civic service. RSF’s publicising of her letter is a call to the international community to shift from rhetoric to resolute action in defence of press freedom in Azerbaijan.
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