In November 2023, several journalists and a member of the administrative team from Abzas, an online investigative media focusing on human rights in Azerbaijan, were arrested by the country's authorities investigations of the imprisoned journalists, published since Thursday, February, 1st by fifteen partner media*.

International activities around a gold mine, acts of torture in the country's prisons, presidential election under international tension... For a month, the members of the consortium worked on several investigations and lift the veil on several cases embarrassing to Azerbaijani authorities.

To be aired on RFI and France 24

« The Baku Connection » 

Torture continues in Azerbaijan's jails, but so does European cooperation

In the run-up to Azerbaijan’s February 7 presidential election, the repression of President Ilham Aliev’s opponents, as well as NGOs and independent journalists still active in the country, has intensified. Daniel Vallot, Karina Chabour and Roméo Langlois investigate the practice of torture in Azerbaijani detention centres. The journalists also examine the continuing cooperation between European institutions and the country's judicial and prison systems.

Daniel Vallot, a journalist with RFI's international service, and France 24’s reporters Karina Chabour and Roméo Langlois conducted this investigation aired on RFI from Tuesday 1^st February and on france24.com

Laurent Richard, co-founder of Forbidden Stories spoke to Fabien Albert on RFI on Friday, February 2^nd and the investigation can be found on rfi.fr and on France 24 YouTube channel.

On Saturday February 10^th at 9.10 PM* the investigation will be broadcast on “Reporters” presented by Mark Owen and available in French, Arabic and Spanish.

Western Azerbaijan’s Gedabek gold mine

The Gedabek gold mine, which has been operated by a British company since 2012, is a source of great tension in Azerbaijan. In June 2023, residents of Söyüdlü, in the western part of the country, held protests against plans to create a second lake to store waste from the mine. They believe that the first lake, located 400 metres from their village, is polluting the soil and water, and say that cyanide vapours are causing respiratory illnesses in the area. Corentin Bainier collected the testimonies of activists and residents and interviewed experts to shed light on the risks caused by this operation.

By Corentin Bainier from The Observers. The investigation can also be watch on Observer’s social media and on france24.com on Friday February 2^nd and will be aired on Saturday February 3^rd at 10.15 am** in “The Observers”. On Friday February 2^nd Corentin Bainier spoke to Juliette Rengeval in “Accents d’Europe” on RFI.

On france24.com, Sebastian Seibt provides a story to be found after the presidential election in Azerbaijan on Wednesday, February 7^th.

* Including: OCCRP (International), The Guardian (United Kingdom), Le Monde and Radio France (France), RTS (Switzerland), IRPI (Italy), Knack and Le Soir (Belgium), NRC (Netherlands), ZDF et Paper Trail Media (Germany), Der Standard (Austria)

** Paris Time