ULVI HASANLI

About Ulvi Hasanli

Ulvi Hasanli, born on 10 August 1987 in Ganja, Azerbaijan, is a 37-year-old journalist. He is married and has a two-year-old daughter named Suad.

Hasanli has been imprisoned at the Baku Detention Center in Kurdakhani since 20 November 2023 as part of a criminal case related to the media outlet he directs, Abzas Media, which is known for its investigative reporting on corruption in Azerbaijan. Initially charged under Article 206.3.2 of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code (smuggling by a group of persons), his charges were later escalated to include more severe accusations, such as illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering by an organised group, tax evasion, and document forgery.

Hasanli was arrested on 20 November on his way to the airport. He reported being subjected to violence during his arrest and interrogation at the Main Police Department of Baku City. Later that day, he was taken to Abzas Media’s office, where authorities claim to have found €40,000.

Before his work with Abzas Media, Hasanli was active in several civil society organisations. He began his social and political activities at a young age, joining the Dalga Youth Movement in 2005 and serving as its leader from 2 October 2006 to 19 September 2007. He later founded and led the Azad Gənclik (Free Youth) organisation and became a member of the board of the Nida Civic Movement. Hasanli also ran for parliamentary elections in 2015 and 2020, but his candidacy was not accepted in 2015. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) later ruled in his favour, acknowledging the violation of his rights and ordering the Azerbaijani government to compensate him. Hasanli was also named in an investigation into Pegasus spyware software, through which the Azerbaijani authorities had been secretly monitoring journalists and activists for years.

Hasanli’s involvement in media began with Abzas Media in 2016. Shortly afterwards, he was conscripted as part of Azerbaijan’s mandatory military service, despite health issues that had previously granted him a deferral. He served on the front line for a year before returning to his journalistic work. Alongside blogger Mehman Huseynov, Hasanli contributed to investigations by Sancaq Production, focusing on corruption among government officials.

Abzas Media became particularly well-known for its investigative work in 2022, revealing information about companies winning contracts for construction and restoration projects in Karabakh and corruption involving high-level officials, such as State Security Service head Ali Nagiyev, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, and President Ilham Aliyev’s chief bodyguard Baylar Ayyubov.

Hasanli has also been detained on administrative charges. For instance, in 2013, while leading the Azad Gənclik (Free Youth) organisation, he was sentenced to fifteen days of administrative detention for allegedly resisting police after distributing “anti-state leaflets”.