The court in Baku sentenced the defendants in the Meclis.info case to long terms.
The founder of the Meclis.info platform, Imran Aliyev, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Activist Elgiz Gahraman received a nine-year sentence in a strict regime, while Tamella Musaeva received eight years probation. Lawyers claimed that the case materials were fabricated, and human rights defenders consider it politically motivated.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on October 20, the prosecutor requested 12 years of imprisonment for the head of the Azerbaijani site Meclis.info, Imran Aliyev, and 11 years for activist Elgiz Gahraman. The prosecutor's speech in court was interrupted after the third defendant, accountant Tamella Musaeva, felt unwell.
The Meclis.info project monitored the work of the Azerbaijani parliament. Imran Aliyev was detained on April 18, 2024, and accused of smuggling, and later, activist Elgiz Gahraman and accountant Tamella Musaeva became defendants in the case. 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, 2026, Aliyev stated in court that he had been tortured after his detention and forced to sign documents without a lawyer.
On November 12, the Baku Serious Crimes Court announced the verdict in the Meclis.info case. Judge Roman Alekberli sentenced the head of the Meclis.info platform, Imran Aliyev, to 10 years in prison, the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" was informed by the court's office.
Activist Elgiz Gahraman (Gahramanov) was sentenced to nine years in prison. Another defendant in the case, accountant Tamella Musaeva, for whom the prosecutor requested 10 years in prison, was sentenced to eight years probation with a four-year probation period.
Gahraman, who was under police supervision during the preliminary and judicial investigation, was taken into custody in the courtroom immediately after the verdict was announced. Considering the activist's previous conviction, the court ruled that he would serve his sentence in a strict regime correctional facility.
Member of the NİDA movement, Elgiz Gahraman, was accused of illegal drug trafficking in August 2016 and sentenced to 5.5 years in prison in January 2017. Activists believed that the reason for the criminal prosecution was his critical publications about the constitutional referendum. The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan reduced Gahraman's sentence to three years, and in March 2019, the activist was among those pardoned by the president.
No credible evidence was presented against Imran Aliyev in court, his lawyer Rasul Jafarov told the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot".
"The person made a civic initiative: being an activist, he acquired a domain called Meclis.info. The investigation materials state that this is an 'organization that has not undergone state registration.' Should a domain be registered as an organization? He acquired the domain from open resources available to everyone and made an initiative. The preliminary investigation authority arbitrarily, guided by subjective judgments, 'criminalized' Imran Aliyev's activities," Jafarov said.
The lawyer linked Imran Aliyev's arrest to a wave of repression against media and civil society that began in Azerbaijan in November 2023 with the Abzas Media case.
"By the way, the accusation itself also linked Imran Aliyev's case with Abzas Media. The initial charges concerned Aliyev's alleged membership in an 'organized group' together with employees of Abzas Media. Subsequently, Imran Aliyev's case was separated into a separate proceeding, but to judge him as a member of an 'organized group,' two more defendants (Elgiz Gahraman and Tamella Musaeva) were added to the case – and it was declared that this is an organized group," Jafarov explained.
Since November 2023, a series of arrests of journalists from independent media has taken place in Azerbaijan. In particular, employees of the online publication Abzas Media were arrested and accused of currency smuggling. Other journalists were also arrested, including the founder of Toplum TV, Alesker Mamedli, and three of his employees. The new wave of repression against independent press is described in the report of the "Caucasian Knot" "Serial arrests of journalists in Azerbaijan".
According to him, the prosecution did not provide specific facts and circumstances of the 'criminal conspiracy' and the distribution of roles in the 'organized group.' The accusation of smuggling was also not proven: as evidence of smuggling, the investigation presented Imran Aliyev's foreign trips and the claim of finding $7,700 in his home.
"The fact that a person leaves the country and then returns cannot serve as evidence of his illegal activities. If any specific facts were presented regarding any of these trips, we would build our defense based on that. They simply say that the person left the country a certain number of times over 4-5 years and committed smuggling during one of these trips. At the same time, the investigation referred to some 'information' from the State Border Service, but then the question arises, why was Imran Aliyev not caught red-handed," Jafarov added.
He also commented on the accusation related to unregistered grants. "Receiving grant funds is not a crime: even if they are obtained without registration, it does not entail criminal liability. The Code of Administrative Offenses has a specific article stating that violating grant registration rules is considered an administrative offense," the lawyer pointed out.
Jafarov noted that the defense will appeal the verdict. Defenders of other defendants also stated that they would file an appeal.
The lawyer of Elgiz Gahraman Parviz Gadjiev also believes that during the investigation and trial, the guilt of his client "was not confirmed by any credible fact." Gahraman explained during the investigation that he was friends with Aliyev and helped him prepare data several times, but did not participate in the activities of any non-governmental structures. Witnesses questioned in court also did not provide testimony incriminating Gahraman in crimes, the defender told the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot."
The lawyer of Tamella Musaeva Nurlan Mamedov also stated the innocence of his client, pointing out gross procedural violations in the case. According to him, Musaeva was questioned only once as a witness during the investigation, and a year later was charged as a defendant, being given only one day to familiarize herself with 16 volumes of the case.
According to Mamedov, from July 2021 to February 2022, Musaeva provided accounting services to the platform: calculating salaries for four employees and state deductions from a grant of $19,000, officially transferred by the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan to an account in the International Bank of Azerbaijan. At the same time, the investigation did not question any representative of the American diplomatic mission about the source of these funds, and the bank did not consider the transaction as 'suspicious.'
The defender also emphasized the absurdity of the smuggling charges against Musaeva, who had only traveled to Turkey once for treatment and never accompanied Aliyev on trips. The lawyer noted that his client grew up in an orphanage and is a first-group disabled person. In his opinion, Musaeva was involved in the case only because the investigation needed an 'accountant to justify the financial articles of the accusation.'
Representatives of the prosecution were unavailable for comment.