Azerbaijani Journalist Mammadli Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison in Conspiracy Case

Ahmet Mammadli, the founder of Yoldaş Medya, which publishes leftist content and struggles for workers' and human rights in Azerbaijan, was detained about a year ago while performing journalism and was sentenced to 6 years in prison at the verdict hearing held on March 17. Mammadli rejected the accusations against him and protested the decision, arguing that he was targeted due to his journalistic activities. As he was brought to the court, he shouted, "I was arrested because of Yoldaş Medya! Free media cannot be silenced!"

Regime Judiciary

Ahmet Mammadli is one of the few leftist opposition figures in Azerbaijan who has been fighting for years, first with the student movement and later with workers' movements, and who became the general chairman of the D-18 party. It is known that the Aliyev regime targets opponents with fabricated criminal charges such as drug use, extortion, and assault to project an image that there is no political repression in the country and to discredit opponents. Mammadli has similarly been imprisoned for a year on charges of "intentional bodily harm."

Mammadli, who systematically received threat messages, was filming in front of the courthouse where opposition figure Tofig Yagublu was on trial after a 38-day hunger strike, before his arrest. Mammadli's family reported that at least two plainclothes police officers were in the same taxi as Mammadli around 10:00 PM that day, started beating him, and later took Mammadli to an unmarked car, where he was beaten and subjected to electric shocks when he refused to give his phone password. In prison, they announced that he had undergone severe torture, being beaten with a baseball bat, causing him to lose consciousness and potentially his eyesight.

On the same day as Mammadli, journalist Ulviyya Ali Guliyeva was also detained, tortured, and arrested under the fabricated charge of "illegal financing" as part of the "Meydan TV case." Ulviyya Ali Guliyeva is still kept in prison.

Journalist, Leftist, Trade Unionist

He also received his share of the rising repression in Azerbaijan over the years, with travel bans and detentions.

Previously, Afiaddin Mammadov, one of the leading cadres of the D-18 party, which he co-founded with Ahmet Mammadli and which dissolved itself in 2023, was also arrested on charges of "stabbing." He, too, was sentenced to 8 years in prison by a court decision after a long period of detention that lasted since 2023.

At the same time, the pioneering members of the "İşçi Masası" (Workers' Desk) trade union, which Ahmet Mammadli and Afiaddin Mammadov co-founded, were sentenced to 3 years in prison along with Afiaddin Mammadov. The İşçi Masası union organized motorcycle couriers in Azerbaijan and held strikes. After this incident, the union members were detained with made up charges.

Like Mammadov, Mammadli was also abducted and detained shortly after writing a series of public anti-war articles against the Azerbaijani government's policy of expelling the Armenian people from the region and its chauvinistic war policies during the Karabakh war.

Following the incident, Mammadli exposed the AKP's active role in suppressing Azerbaijani opponents, stating that he had applied for a master's degree to Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University and received confirmation of his acceptance, but later the Azerbaijani authorities received letters from the university, the Turkish embassy, and other organizations stating that his application was rejected.

After a short period of imprisonment, Mammadli founded Yoldaş Medya in 2025, which was described as one of the last independent media outlets continuing its activities after the wave of journalist arrests that has been ongoing since 2023, and continued his journalistic activities.

At the verdict hearing held on March 17, 2026, Mammadli turned to the listeners, not the judge, for his final words:

"I grew up in one of the remotest villages of the Cəlilabad region. Since I opened my eyes, I have personally witnessed practices and illegalities outside the law in our village. I watched with a heavy heart as the village people were squeezed in the grip of social inequality. The fact that people remained silent about what was happening created an even greater anger in me. The usurpation of the villagers' lands, unemployment, and their lack of knowledge of basic rights dragged them into such a swamp that they were dragging their families with them. Child marriages, which are on the media's agenda today, were an ordinary occurrence in our village and surrounding villages.

During my university studies, I communicated with students from different regions and realized that our village, Cəngan, was a miniature model of our 86.6 thousand square kilometer country. If there is no collective struggle, neither our village nor our country will improve. Organizing with students who shared my views, we opposed the political discrimination, bribery, and policies of 'mankurtization' in education at the universities we attended and founded the student movement called 'Tələbə Güc Mərkəzi' (Student Power Center). Parallel to this movement, I also became a member of the 'Demokratiya 1918 Hərəkatı' (Democracy 1918 Movement) to take an active role in the country's political life. Together with my student friends, we defended students' rights and organized actions. Of course, these actions had certain effects. However, system change was essential for the problems to be solved fundamentally. My struggle friends were also young people with similar stories to mine.

As the activities of the student movement expanded, the pressure on us also increased. Moreover, these pressures were reflected not only on us but also on our families. In 2021, my father was held hostage for a few hours at the district police station to prevent me from participating in actions; I, on the other hand, was subjected to torture, pressure, and threats many times. It even went further, and I was threatened with expulsion from the university. Since the political environment was relatively different compared to a few years ago, there were opportunities to carry out public and political activities. Therefore, after my student life ended and I graduated, I became more active in the political field and was elected president of the 'Demokratiya 1918 Hərəkatı,' of which I was a member, in 2021. As my activities came to the fore, the severity of the pressures I was subjected to also increased.

The pressure and torture were about to turn into a wave of arrests, and so it did. In 2022, I was detained for 30 days for calling for peace during the military clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia. …

…Neither during the investigation phase nor during the trial process was my fingerprint found even on the knife, which was the basis of the fake case and was alleged to be the instrument of the crime of 'attempted intentional murder.' If it were someone else in my place, the file would have been closed at the investigation stage; under normal circumstances, the court should have acquitted me in such a situation. However, I am still detained under these conditions for 10 months.

Furthermore, there are contradictory witness statements. Even the two police officers who were heard as witnesses openly stated, 'We did not witness Ahmet Mammadli stabbing someone.' A witness living near the scene stated that he was stopped by the neighborhood officer while going home and signed a statement he had not read at the insistence of the investigator. In addition, camera footage that could shed light on the case, the surgical images of the alleged 'victim,' and our demands refuting the accusations were not taken into account by the court panel.

Do you think another explanation is needed to see that this case is being carried out by a political instruction? Or are two eyes, two ears, and a little common sense not enough to understand that my human rights advocacy and journalistic activities, which disturbed the government in the last six months (before my arrest), were part of a pre-prepared plan for my arrest?

Finally, I thank everyone who supported me during this period of unjust detention.

EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE ONE DAY... BUT ONLY AFTER EVERYTHING HAS COMPLETELY GOTTEN WORSE."

Independent Journalists Targeted

As part of the campaign to liquidate all opposition media tools and channels in Azerbaijan between 2023 and 2025, at least 25 journalists were arrested. A total of around 350 opponents are held in prisons. Furthermore, according to international human rights organizations and journalist organizations, the number of journalists killed in Azerbaijan between 1992 and 2025 is 130; 85 journalists are "missing."

All developments regarding the Ahmad Mammadli case can be accessed at https://ahmadmammadli.info.