PACE Committee: "We are concerned about the silencing of critical voices in Azerbaijan"

A committee of the Council of Europe has warned of a total collapse of media freedom in Azerbaijan, accusing authorities of systematically dismantling democratic pluralism.

The report, adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, details a widespread campaign to silence independent journalists, academics, and civil society.

Constantinos Efstathiou, the Cypriot rapporteur from the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group who drafted the report, said the findings represent a strategic departure by the Azerbaijani government from its international obligations.

Azerbaijan has failed to submit its credentials to PACE for both 2025 and 2026, leaving it absent from the human rights body.

The report coincides with Azerbaijan falling to 171st place out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, placing it in a bracket superior only to the Russian Federation, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, and Eritrea.

The inquiry found that legislation in Baku is routinely used to provide a legal veneer for the elimination of dissent.

The "Law on the Media", the "Law on Political Parties", and the "Law on Non-Governmental Organisations" have effectively closed down civic space, criminalised independent journalism, and prevented opposition groups from operating.

According to the report, independent organisations are blocked from receiving international funding, while regulatory power has been centralized under the executive.

The state's grip is further tightened by "MİRAS", a centralized surveillance database managed by the State Security Service. The system consolidates personal data from all government agencies without judicial oversight, enabling the total monitoring of activists and researchers.

The inquiry concluded that as of May 2026, not a single independent media outlet continues to operate inside Azerbaijan.

The report highlighted several criminal prosecutions, including that of Ulvi Hasanli, the editor-in-chief of Abzas Media, who was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of smuggling and tax evasion. The conviction followed his testimony to the Council of Europe regarding the risks faced by Azerbaijani journalists.

The report also raised the case of Avaz Hafizli, a reporter and LGBTI activist who was murdered by his cousin in a hate crime. The killer’s sentence of nine years and six months was described by Lacroix as "unduly lenient" given the gravity of the crime.

According to the findings, the media environment is characterized by:

The detention of 36 journalists as of 2026, up from four in 2021.

Systematic smear campaigns to publicly discredit critical voices.

The deployment of "zero-click" Pegasus spyware against at least 48 journalists.

The domestic crackdown has extended to human rights defenders and academic researchers.

Anar Mammadli, a prominent activist and Václav Havel Human Rights Prize laureate, is currently being prosecuted as a "repeat offender". The indictment against him relies on past criminal proceedings that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had already ruled were politically motivated.

Akif Gurbanov, a co-founder of Toplum TV, also remains in pre-trial detention on smuggling charges.

Academic freedom has been similarly restricted. Researchers Bahruz Samadov and Iqbal Abilov were sentenced to 15 and 18 years respectively on high treason charges, following routine academic interactions with Armenian nationals.

Data from the Union for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan shows there were 328 political prisoners in the country as of 13 May 2026, including 31 journalists and eight human rights defenders.

The Azerbaijani government is also accused of targeting dissidents living in exile in Europe.

In France, Azerbaijani blogger Mahammad Mirzali has survived multiple assassination attempts. A French court recently sentenced an Azerbaijani citizen to 10 years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to murder Mirzali, establishing what the court described as the direct involvement of the Baku government.

The report also noted that the 2024 killing of human rights defender Vidadi Isgandarli in Mulhouse, France, is still being investigated as a suspected state-sponsored assassination.

Conditions inside Azerbaijan's own prison system were described as shocking, with nine female journalists reporting threats of sexual violence and the denial of medical care. Azerbaijan continues to refuse to publish reports by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).

Baku has recently stated it will no longer recognise ECHR judgments, using its non-participation in PACE as a justification.

The Council of Europe committee has called for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Azerbaijan and urged member states to refuse the extradition of Azerbaijani nationals on political charges.