On April 1, at the Baku Serious Crimes Court, the accused in the “Abzas Media” case—Nargiz Absalamova, Muhammad Kekalov, and Hafiz Babali—were questioned.
Muhammad Kekalov, the coordinator of Abzas Media, rejected all accusations made by the investigative authorities and retracted all the statements he had made during the preliminary investigation.
When the prosecutor asked whether his initial statements about receiving money from international organizations were true, Muhammad Kekalov answered negatively.
“I was forced to tell a fabricated story so the investigators would leave me alone”
“The indictment claims that I wrote projects and submitted grant applications. This is a lie, I don’t even understand all of this. I did not receive any grants, and I have no idea who received how much money. I wasn’t interested in how Abzas Media was funded. Why should I care? I was a translator and participated in meetings with Ulvi Hasanlı as a translator and got paid for that,” he said in his testimony.
Kekalov also mentioned that during the investigation, his confessions were extracted by force:
“During the investigation, I kept saying that I didn’t know anything. But the investigators forced me to name people and confess to things. I had to memorize the names of international organizations that I heard about during the ‘Mirşahinin vaxtı’ program, and during the interrogations, I told them a fabricated story about how we received money from these organizations. None of what I said during the investigation is true. I never brought money from anywhere, and I never saw anyone do that. I was forced to tell a made-up story so the investigators would leave me alone.”
The prosecutor then asked Muhammad Kekalov if he had met with the other arrested individuals in the case. Kekalov replied that he only met the journalists involved in the case when they were filming events he organized for people with disabilities.
“I never traveled abroad with any of them. I only met Farid Mehralizade once at a joint event. Our work, and even our hotels, were different. Farid Mehralizade never cooperated with Abzas Media,” Kekalov said in court.
In the next phase, other accused individuals and their lawyers asked questions. Rovshan Ragimli’s lawyer asked Muhammad Kekalov why he had refused to meet with her during the first 48 hours of his detention. Kekalov refused to answer these questions.
“We can be accused of news smuggling, not money smuggling”
Nargiz Absalamova, one of the journalists arrested in connection with the Abzas Media case, testified that they could be accused of news smuggling, not money smuggling.
“We were personally arrested by Ilham Aliyev because we exposed him and his government’s illegal actions,” said Nargiz Absalamova.
The journalist also stated that if they had agreed to praise President Ilham Aliyev’s policies, they would not be in prison now:
“That’s what they wanted from us. During the investigation, we uncovered shocking facts of corruption.”
Absalamova refused to answer the prosecutor’s questions and stated that the trial was political, not legal, and that she would not respond.
“Our ‘crime’ was providing the audience with truthful, straightforward information”
Hafiz Babali, an editor at the Turan news agency, who is accused in the Abzas Media case, stated that the charges against him were based solely on Kekalov’s testimony, which he retracted in court:
“The essence of this criminal case stems from the despotic and kleptocratic nature of the Azerbaijani authorities. Anyone with a conscience knows that our ‘crime’ was providing the audience with truthful, straightforward information about what is happening in Azerbaijan. The investigators, prosecutors, and the masterminds behind the terror against us will also answer before the court of history and justice, just like those responsible for the repressions of 1937.”
Hafiz Babali also mentioned that in the Baku detention center where he was held, his name was listed in the registry with phrases such as “opposition-minded,” “blogger,” and “inclined to defamation.” The journalist emphasized that these statements were false, further proving that his arrest was politically motivated.
The next court session is scheduled for April 8. It is expected that Farid Mehralizade, a Radio Free Europe employee, will be interrogated during the process.
It is worth noting that in November 2023 – January 2024, the leaders and employees of Abzas Media—Ulvi Hasanlı, Sevinc Vagifgizi, Muhammad Kekalov, Nargiz Absalamova, and Elnara Gasimova—were arrested, along with investigative journalist Hafiz Babali, a Turan agency employee. In May, economist and Radio Azadliq staff member Farid Mehralizade was arrested in connection with the same case.
Initially, they were charged under Article 206.3.2 of the Criminal Code (smuggling by a group of persons with prior agreement). However, in August 2024, the charges were intensified to include Articles 192.3.2 (illegal entrepreneurship with substantial income); 193-1.3.1 and 193-1.3.2 (money laundering by an organized group); 206.4 (smuggling by an organized group); 320.1 and 320.2 (forgery of documents and use of forged documents); and 213.2.1 (group tax evasion).
The journalists reject all charges, stating that they are being persecuted for investigating corruption within the highest levels of government.
