The defendants in the Meydan TV case are outraged by the ban on filming the trial.

The defendants in the Meydan TV case requested that the indictment, which repeats the same sentences for each defendant, be shortened, but the court denied their request. They also requested that observers be allowed to film the trial, but this was denied.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," the Meydan TV case was opened in December 2024, when six journalists were detained and later arrested on charges of currency smuggling. They linked the criminal case to their professional activities. By August 2025, 11 people had been arrested in the Meydan TV case. At the end of August, it was announced that the investigation had been completed, and a 12th suspect, photojournalist Ahmed Mukhtar, had appeared in the case. At the same time, the arrested journalists were charged with seven more criminal offenses. On December 12, 2025, at the first hearing in the Meydan TV case, the Baku court refused to close the criminal case and release the accused. At a court hearing on January 17, journalist Nurlan Gahramanli announced an indefinite hunger strike at a Baku court hearing in protest against violence committed by guards. Nurlan Gahramanli, a freelance journalist known by the pseudonym Nurlan Libre and contributing to various independent publications, was detained on February 20, 2025. On December 1, 2025, he was subjected to violence by guards in the Sabail District Court of Baku, where his detention was being extended. "For Nurlan's complaint about the lack of medication for prisoners, force was used against him in the courthouse holding area. He was tied to a table and held there for an hour," his wife said. On February 5, Gahramanli's wife reported that his condition had seriously worsened as a result of his hunger strike, but he was not receiving any medical attention.

The Meydan TV trial continued in the Baku Court of Grave Crimes on February 6. At the beginning of the hearing, defendant Nurlan Gahramanli, who has been on a hunger strike for 22 days, was placed in a separate glass cage from the other 11 defendants, a Caucasian Knot correspondent reported from the courtroom.

Gahramanli looked very haggard and pale. His lawyer, Javad Javadov, noted that Gahramanli's health had seriously deteriorated as a result of his prolonged hunger strike and requested that a doctor be called to see him.

Nurlan Gahramanli himself protested his isolation from the other defendants. Judge Aliyeva explained this decision by citing that Gahramanli had injured himself in an earlier hearing and therefore required special supervision.

The other accused journalists stated that if Gahramanli were transferred to their glass cage, they would guarantee that their hunger strike colleague would not harm his health. Gahramanli confirmed that he no longer intended to harm himself.

A short recess was announced in the hearing, and after Gahramanli was examined by a doctor, the trial continued. The hunger strike journalist was transferred to a glass cage with the other defendants, but his handcuffs were not removed. "Your actions will be monitored, and an appropriate decision will be made based on your behavior," the judge said. Gahramanli was outraged by this. "What you're talking about (the incident of Gahramanli injuring himself, - Caucasian Knot note) took place in December. There were several hearings after that. If I had intended to injure myself again, I would have done so," he said. He then described his hunger strike and the violation of his rights in pretrial detention. "They took blood samples twice, but they never gave me the results. I was not allowed to give letters to my family and lawyer. The prosecutor's office and the ombudsman's office are turning a blind eye to the violation of my rights, and my complaints are not being investigated. "I refused to participate in the trial in protest, but today I was forcibly brought here. But I declare here that I will continue my hunger strike until the last arrested journalist is released," Gahramanli said. Afterward, his handcuffs were removed.

The judge insisted on the full reading of the indictment

The defendants and their lawyers requested that the reading of the indictment be considered complete, given that the same parts were repeated for each defendant. The judge, contrary to this request, announced that the document would be read in full. This provoked a negative reaction from the defendants: they pointed out that the indictment was very long, and that the same sentences were copied for all defendants, and that reading the document in full would only be a waste of time.

Judge Aliyeva was adamant: she emphasized that, according to procedural rules, the indictment must be read in full. Her statement provoked even greater protest from the defendants.

"The indictment contains many lies. We protest against this; we want to make comments and motions, but you are not allowing us to do so. The indictment states that Meydan TV is not registered in Azerbaijan. But the publication was registered in Germany, and there was no need for it to register in Azerbaijan," said defendant Shamshad Aga.

The judge, interrupting him, stated that motions could be filed after the indictment was read. The journalist persisted, also speaking out against confiscating cell phones from citizens coming to observe the trial. He cited the Supreme Court's plenum's decision regarding open trials.

"This is an open trial. Why aren't you allowing citizens to film the proceedings on their mobile devices?" he asked. The journalist's question was ignored, and the judge gave the floor to the prosecutor to continue reading the indictment.

"A formal demonstration of legality"

The judge's refusal to grant the defendants' and defense's request to stop the prosecutor from speaking at the trial is a "demonstration of formal compliance with the law," Meydan TV editor-in-chief Aynur Elgunesh Elchin Sadigov's lawyer told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Yes, the law requires the indictment to be read in full, but in practice, if parts of the indictment are repeated in the text, the document is not read in full. "This happened, for example, during the trial of the Abzas Media journalists," Sadigov said.

The lawyer declined to comment further on the progress of the trial. "It is premature to comment, as the trial has not yet begun, as the indictment has not yet been read out," he said.

The lawyer also noted that the defense had already petitioned for journalists to be allowed to film the trial, but the court rejected the request, citing the fact that the entire trial is being recorded on video and audio by the court's security service. These recordings, the lawyer emphasized, are not available to the public.

An employee of the Baku Court of Grave Crimes told a Caucasian Knot correspondent that the next hearing in the Meydan TV case is scheduled for February 13. Representatives of the prosecution were unavailable for comment.