Aziz Orujov, director of the online broadcaster Kanal 13, has been imprisoned since November 2023, and in February 2025 was sentenced to two years in prison on retaliatory charges of illegal construction.
Orujov is one of at least 25 journalists and media workers jailed between late 2023 and August 2025 in a major crackdown on the independent press and civil society in Azerbaijan.
In 2017, authorities sentenced Orujov to six years in prison on charges of illegal entrepreneurship and abuse of power, which were widely viewed as retaliation for his journalism; he was released on probation in 2018. In 2021, Orujov’s name was on a leaked list of individuals potentially targeted with Pegasus, spyware produced by the Israeli company NSO Group, according to the global investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Police from the Sabail District in the capital, Baku, arrested Orujov at his family home on the evening of November 27, 2023, and searched his home, car, and Kanal 13’s office. Police confiscated documents and USB sticks from Kanal 13’s office and took two laptops, a cell phone, documents, and bank cards from their home, the journalist’s wife, Lamiya Orujova, told CPJ.
Police accused Orujov of illegally building a home on a plot of land that he had purchased in Sabail District, Orujova said. The journalist’s lawyer, Bahruz Bayramov, told CPJ that although the land was not officially registered to Orujov, this was also the case for around half a million homes in and around Baku, and that authorities had not jailed anyone else for the offense. Instead, the charges were in retaliation for Orujov’s journalism, according to the lawyer.
In early December 2023, authorities sentenced Kanal 13 presenter Rufat Muradli to 30 days’ detention on hooliganism charges that the outlet denounced as “absolutely not credible.” On December 19, investigators brought new charges of conspiracy to smuggle currency against Orujov. Three days later, police arrested Kanal 13 reporter Shamo Eminov on the same charges.
Investigators accused Orujov, Eminov, and other “unknown” individuals of bringing 90,000 manat (US$52,940) in cash from foreign donor organizations into Azerbaijan through “numerous transactions” during 2022 and 2023, according to court documents reviewed by CPJ. The journalists denied the allegations.
Kanal 13 is one of four major outlets — along with Abzas Media, Toplum TV, and Meydan TV — from among Azerbaijan’s last remaining independent media targeted over alleged receipt of Western donor money since late 2023, with some of the journalists sentenced to up to 11 years in prison.
Kanal 13 has more than 2 million subscribers on its YouTube channels. It regularly covers human rights violations, gives space to opposition views, and reports extensively on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Days before authorities brought new charges against Kanal 13, on December 11, 2023, an Azerbaijani court ordered Kanal 13’s YouTube channel blocked on the grounds that the outlet spread “false,” “insulting,” and “discrediting” information about state officials and others.
In December 2024, authorities dropped the currency smuggling charges against Orujov and Eminov and released Eminov.
On February 26, a Baku court found Orujov guilty on the illegal construction charges and sentenced him to two years in prison.
An appeals court upheld Orujov’s sentence on May 13. The journalist’s brother, Anar Orujov, who is also founder of Kanal 13, told CPJ in August 2025 that Orujov had submitted an appeal to Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court.
As of August 2025, Orujov is being held at Penitentiary Facility No. 6 in Baku, Anar Orujov told CPJ. Anar Orujov said his brother is suffering from multiple health issues including neurological problems and has spent large parts of his detention in a penitentiary service medical unit. Prison doctors told the journalist that prolonged incarceration was negatively affecting his health, Anar Orujov said.
CPJ emailed Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Penitentiary Service of Azerbaijan in August 2025 but did not receive a reply.