Khayala Agayeva – journalist of the Meydan TV, an online Azerbaijani media outlet Date of arrest: 6 December 2024 Charge: Articles 192.2.2 (Illegal business, committed with gaining an extra large-scale income); 192.2.3 (Illegal business, committed by organized group); 193-1.3.1 (Legalization of money or other property obtained by crime, committed by an organized group or a criminal organization (criminal association); 193-1.3.2 (Legalization of money or other property obtained by crime, committed in large amount); 206.4 (Smuggling, committed by the organized group); 213.2.1 (Evasion from payment of taxes, committed by the organized group); 320.1 (Fake of certificate or other official document giving the rights or releasing from duties, with a view of its use or selling of such document, as well as manufacturing in same purposes or selling 25 of counterfeit state awards of the Azerbaijan Republic, stamps, seals, forms) and 320.2 (Use of obviously counterfeit documents) of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic.
On 8 December 2024, the Baku City Khatai District Court issued a ruling: to apply a preventive measure against Khayala Agayeva in the form of arrest for a period of 4 months.
The period of detention in custody during the investigation has been subsequently extended times Place of detention: Pre-trial Detention Center № 1 at the Kyurdakhani settlement in Baku City Sabunchu District Conclusion: On 6 December 2024, the Baku City Khatai District Police arrested 6 employees of the Meydan TV.
Among them is journalist Khayala Agayeva.
All employees were detained for 48 hours and their lawyers were not allowed in.
A journalist working for Meydan TV anonymously explained that ‘of course, they will allow lawyers later, but first of all they want to take testimonies of our colleagues and deprive them of qualified legal assistance”.
This was particularly evident in relation to Khayala Agayeva.
Her lawyer, Nazim Musayev, told the journalists, "Khayala Agayeva was detained at around 3.00 pm.
She was brought to the Baku Main Police Department.
Agayeva identified me as her lawyer, but the police officers could not reach me, as I was at the trial.
The police took advantage of that and put psychological pressure on the girl, forcing her to testify against herself ".
In the evening, when the lawyer, Nazim Musayev, arrived at the police department, he was prevented from seeing his client for a long time, ‘An officer in the rank of captain introduced himself as an investigator Nahid Abbasly and took me to the office on the fourth floor where there was Hayala Agayeva.
Beforehand, he took a photo of my order.
When we entered the office, the investigator sent the photo to someone.
After that, he told me that the date on the order was allegedly not current and refused to let me defend Agayeva”.
Musayev regarded the investigator's behavior as ‘arbitrariness’.
According to him, Khayala Agayeva had time to inform him that her testimony had been taken. ‘So, certain investigative measures had already been carried out prior to the lawyer's arrival, which is illegal,” the lawyer pointed out.
Further, Nazim Musayev said, ‘Finally, at around 11.00 pm in the evening, I managed to start my work as Agayeva's lawyer.
Following my explanation of her rights, the first thing Agayeva did was to retract her initial statement.
Then, it was announced to her that she was brought in as a suspect under the Article 206.3.2 of the Criminal Code.
Certainly, she denied those suspicions and said that she was penalised for her journalistic work, for the investigations that were published on Meydan TV”.
Initially, Khayala Agayeva was charged with involvement in smuggling, which she denied.
On 28 August 2025, Khayala Agaeva, as the other accused in the case of Meydan TV, was charged with additional seven articles of the AR Criminal Code The editorial staff of the Meydan TV called the detention and interrogation of the journalists illegal and denied the accusations in its statement.
The arrest of all employees of the Baku Meydan TV caused a wide resonance and disapproval among many politicians and representatives of the Azerbaijani civil society.
The arrest also provoked a negative reaction abroad. 26
