The wife of journalist Nurlan Gahramanli reported that he was beaten in pretrial detention.
Nurlan Gahramanli, arrested in the Meydan TV case, was beaten by an employee of the Baku pretrial detention center. According to Gahramanli's wife, the employee deliberately provoked the journalist into arguing with him.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on January 16, journalist Nurlan Gahramanli, arrested in the Meydan TV case, announced an indefinite hunger strike in protest against the violence perpetrated by guards. On February 20, at a court hearing in Baku, he announced that he had been on a hunger strike for 36 days, but was not receiving medical care. In early March, the journalist's wife reported that his condition had noticeably worsened as a result of a prolonged hunger strike, and he was not receiving effective medical care.
Nurlan Gakhramanli is a freelance journalist who collaborates with various independent publications and is known under the pseudonym Nurlan Libre. He was detained on February 20, 2025. His condition has significantly worsened, according to his wife, who saw him in pretrial detention on February 19. "He is severely emaciated. He is losing weight significantly each time, literally wasting away. Nurlan could barely move. He complained of pain all over his body. He only drinks water. He is not receiving any medical care," she told the Caucasian Knot.
According to Asli Alizade, an employee provoked Nurlan into a conflict and then beat him after pinning his hands in the window of the iron door of his cell. The pretrial detention center employee then twisted Nurlan's arms upward. The journalist reported that there were marks from handcuffs on his hands.
On March 2, it was reported that Nurlan Gahramanli filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan regarding threats from security forces and his placement in solitary confinement after refusing to end his hunger strike. His cellmate also came under pressure due to the journalist's hunger strike.
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 been identified. The arrested journalists were also charged with seven more criminal offenses. On December 12, 2025, at the first hearing in the Meydan TV case, the court refused to close the criminal case and release the accused.
Those arrested in the Meydan TV case were persecuted at the direction of the Azerbaijani leadership for their journalistic activities, said one of the defendants, Shamshad Agha. "You have neither the authority nor the courage to make arbitrary decisions in any process controlled by [the country's president] Ilham Aliyev. In these processes, the investigator, the prosecutor, and the judge are all Ilham Aliyev," he told the court.
Journalists from other media outlets, including Abzas Media, Toplum TV, and Kanal-13, have also been persecuted in Azerbaijan. On June 20, journalists and employees of Abzas Media were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 7.5 to 9 years. They denied the charges in court, emphasizing that they were being persecuted for their professional activities and for investigating corruption cases.
The number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan reached its highest point in 2024 since the country's 23-year membership in the Council of Europe, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Key Points About the Record Number of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan." At the same time, the Azerbaijani authorities deny the existence of political prisoners in the country.