Victory for press freedom at the European Court of Human Rights

Media Defence and Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova secured a landmark ruling for press freedom at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The Court ruled that Azerbaijan imprisoned Ismayilova “to silence and punish her for her journalistic activities,” finding her criminal conviction to be unlawful, arbitrary and a violation of fundamental human rights.

The ECtHR ruled that Azerbaijan breached multiple provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights by prosecuting Ismayilova on charges including illegal entrepreneurship and tax evasion – accusations directly linked to her work as a freelance journalist. The Court confirmed violations of Article 6 (right to a fair trial), Article 7 (no punishment without law), Article 10 (freedom of expression), and Article 18 (misuse of legal restrictions to silence dissent). The court ordered Azerbaijan to pay Ismayilova 12,000 euros in compensation for moral damage and 4,000 euros in legal costs.

Ismayilova, whose reporting on corruption has long made her a target of sustained state harassment in Azerbaijan, was convicted in 2015 and initially sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. Though the Supreme Court later quashed most charges and suspended her sentence, the conviction for “illegal entrepreneurship” remained. In its judgment, the ECtHR emphasised that there was no lawful basis for criminalising her journalistic activity, and that her prosecution formed part of a wider campaign to retaliate against critical media voices.

Padraig Hughes, Legal Director of Media Defence, who represented Ms Ismayilova stated; “The Court’s findings on Articles 10 and 18 are significant because they unmask Azerbaijan’s strategy of prosecuting critical journalists on trumped-up charges that are ostensibly unrelated to anything the journalist has published. The Court has recognised that Khadija’s trial was a sham, and its sole purpose was to punish her for her reporting that exposed corruption among Azeri officials.”

Beyond vindicating Ismayilova, the judgment delivers a powerful rebuke of the misuse of criminal law to silence independent journalism and underscores a core democratic principle: societies depend on journalists who can investigate and hold power to account without fear of arbitrary prosecution. Azerbaijan remains one of the world’s most prolific jailers of journalists, with the Committee to Protect Journalists reporting at least 24 journalists behind bars as of its 1 December 2025 prison census.