President Ilham Aliyev has been waging a relentless war against his remaining critics since 2014. Independent journalists and bloggers are jailed on absurd grounds if they do not first yield to harassment, blackmail or bribes.
The main independent news websites are blocked. In a bid to silence journalists who continue to resist in exile, the authorities harass their family members still in Azerbaijan. They do not hesitate to reach beyond Azerbaijan’s borders, getting Azerbaijani journalists arrested in Georgia and Ukraine, and suing journalists in France.
Sources: Paul Ronzheimer, Stv. Chefredakteur @ BILD-Zeitung / Reporter ; Reporters Without Borders