The prosecution requested 12 years of imprisonment for Imran Aliyev.
The prosecutor requested 12 years of imprisonment for the head of the Azerbaijani website Meclis.info, Imran Aliyev, and 11 years for activist Elgiz Gahraman. The prosecutor's speech was interrupted after the third defendant, accountant Tamella Musaeva, felt unwell.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the editor-in-chief of Meclis.info, Imran Aliyev, was detained on April 18, 2024, and charged with smuggling, and later the case involved activist Elgiz Gahraman and accountant Tamella Musaeva. Following the investigation, Aliyev and Gahraman were charged with eight articles, including illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering, smuggling, tax evasion, and forgery. The defendants denied their guilt, and on April 28 of this year, Aliyev stated in court that he had been tortured after his detention and forced to sign documents without a lawyer.
On October 20, another hearing took place in the Baku Serious Crimes Court regarding the case of Imran Aliyev, Elgiz Gahraman, and Tamella Musaeva. The prosecutor demanded a sentence of 12 years for Aliyev and 11 years for Gahraman.
During the hearing, Musaeva's health deteriorated, preventing the prosecutor from finishing his speech. The next hearing is scheduled for November 3, Meydan TV reported on its website on October 20.
Aliyev did not acknowledge the charges against him and linked the prosecution to the leadership of Meclis.info – a site that investigated the activities of the Azerbaijani parliament and its deputies. Gahraman and Musaeva are under police supervision during the trial, according to the publication.
It should be noted that Meclis.info monitored the work of the Azerbaijani parliament. On the evening of April 18, 2024, Aliyev was detained at Baku airport, where he was about to fly to Istanbul. Before his detention, a pro-government publication published an article linking him to criminal cases against employees of independent media Abzas Media and Toplum TV and the receipt of foreign grants. Aliyev managed to record a video message: he called the publication's claims a fabrication and stated that he decided to temporarily leave the country for safety reasons.
Elgiz Gahraman, also referred to by the surname Gahramanov, is an activist. In May 2024, he was interrogated as a witness in the Abzas Media case and was banned from leaving Azerbaijan. On March 7, 2025, he reported that after being summoned to the main police department in Baku, he was charged as a defendant in Aliyev's case. He was not placed in custody but was subjected to police supervision with the obligation to report regularly. Gahraman stated that he does not consider himself guilty of any of the charges.
On March 13, 2025, Aliyev was informed about the completion of the investigation. He and Gahraman were charged with illegal entrepreneurship with significant income, including as part of an organized group, money laundering obtained through criminal means, smuggling by an organized group, tax evasion, forgery, and use of forged documents.
In court, Gahraman explained that he was friends with Aliyev and helped search for information for Meclis.info from open sources. According to him, the investigation used 57 phone calls between them as evidence of their involvement in illegal activities, although their communication was natural for friends.
Tamella Musaeva informed the court that she worked as an accountant for Aliyev in 2021-2022, officially received a salary, and paid taxes. She denied forgery, illegal actions, and signing documents for other people.
On July 16, 2025, it became known about a civil lawsuit from the tax authorities against Aliyev for 61,000 manats (about 36,000 dollars). The defense challenged the debt calculation: a tax service employee admitted that a separate investigation was not conducted, and the amount was determined based on a conclusion based on the incomes of similar taxpayers.