A Toplum TV journalist reported threats in pretrial detention.

During a trial in Baku, journalist Farid Ismayilov stated that he was threatened by another prisoner while in custody.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, the activists and journalists arrested in the Toplum TV case, who were initially accused of currency smuggling, were charged in January with new charges under six criminal offenses. They face up to 12 years in prison. Toplum TV positioned itself as an independent platform for expressing diverse opinions on socio-political and socio-economic events. On February 10, Toplum TV announced the suspension of its activities in Azerbaijan.

Today, September 29, another court hearing in the case of Toplum TV journalists was held in a Baku court. The founder of the publication, Alesker Mammadli, continued his speech at the last hearing. In his speech, he noted that the statement about the lack of state registration demonstrates the prosecutor's office's ignorance of legal regulation in the media sphere, Meydan.TV reports.

"Toplum TV is a domain name. According to the rules of the International Communications Association, domain names can have international or national codes. For example: "com," "org," "net," "info," "tv," etc. They can be obtained online at "whois.com" by entering your email address online and paying $8-10. No other procedural rules or state registration are required for this," he noted.

Mamedli noted that the laws in effect at the time of Toplum TV's creation and those that came into force later did not require state registration of this media outlet. "The Toplum TV domain was acquired in April 2016, and the website was created in 2017. At that time, the laws regulating media activity in Azerbaijan were the Law on Mass Media and the Law on Television and Radio. Registration of resources accessible through domain names was not planned," he stated.

Responding to accusations that he wrote projects on behalf of Toplum TV and received grants from foreign organizations, he called them baseless. He claimed that investigators falsified evidence by presenting service contracts he concluded with various organizations as grants, the publication reports.

Mammadli also emphasized that Toplum TV did not conduct any commercial activities and did not generate any income. "It was simply a platform for young people who wanted to become journalists and hone their skills in practice. It was a voluntary activity for individuals, bringing in no material income. My activity here consisted solely of purchasing the Toplum.tv domain," he stated.

During the trial, journalist Farid Ismailov, a defendant in this case, stated that he had received death threats while in custody. The journalist's relatives also confirmed this to Meydan TV. According to them, he was being threatened by one of the prisoners.

"Farid claims that an inmate in the neighboring cell threatened to kill him. When prison staff took Farid to the medical center on September 23, another inmate threw a glass at him. Despite Farid's complaints, no action was taken regarding the incident. He then met with his lawyer and filed a request to transfer the inmate who threw the glass at him. But no one considered the request," his relatives told the publication.

The number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan reached its highest level in 2024 since the country's 23-year membership in the Council of Europe, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Key Points on the Record Number of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan". At the same time, the Azerbaijani authorities deny the existence of political prisoners in the country.