On April 3, the Azerbaijani Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist Farid Mehralizada, upholding his nine-year prison sentence. In his final statement at the Supreme Court, Mehralizada said, “Despite the fact that there is no single piece of evidence against me, I have been sentenced to nine years in prison.” The court hearing was presided over by Judge Zaur Huseynov.

Following the court’s decision, RFE/RL President and CEO Steve Capus issued a statement saying, “This ruling will only prolong the painful separation forced on Farid’s family for crimes he did not commit. Azerbaijani authorities should move swiftly to undo this grave injustice and allow Farid to return home.” Capus also noted that Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, raised Farid Mehralizada’s case in Baku.

An international media rights watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), condemned the “unjust decision and calls for the release of Mehralizada and all the other unjustly detained journalists in the country.”

In another international reaction, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a strong condemnation of the Supreme Court’s April 3 decision. Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, declared, “By denying the appeal of the Abzas Media and RFE/RL journalists, the authorities may think they are putting the final nail in the coffin of independent media”. She noted that Azerbaijani authorities “are clearly afraid of reports on high-level official corruption” and urged foreign governments to “prioritize press freedom and the release of imprisoned journalists in their dealings with officials in Baku”.

The International Press Institute also reacted on 9 April, calling for “immediate and unconditional release and calls on the international community to exert meaningful pressure on Azerbaijan to hold the authorities accountable for their unjust imprisonment of journalists.” IPI also vowed to “continue to advocate for their release and supports all efforts to secure justice, including taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).”