Teymur Karimov – Head of the Kanal 11 YouTube channel 13 Date of arrest: 11 December 2023 Charge: Articles 182.2.1 (Extortion committed on preliminary arrangement by group of persons); 182.2.2 (Extortion committed repeatedly) and 182.2.4 (Extortion committed with causing damage to a victim in significant size) of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic.
On 12 December 2023, the Baku City Narimanov District Court issued an order: to satisfy the investigator’s petition on arrest and issue a preventive measure against Teymur Karimov in the form of detention for a period of 4 months.
The period of detention in custody during the investigation has been subsequently extended several times Sentence: On 28 December 2024, the Baku City Court for Serious Crimes sentenced to 8 years in prison Judge: Azad Majidov Sentence: On 15 May 2025, the Baku City Court of Appeal issued a sentence downward the period of imprisonment from 8 to 7 years.
Judge: Anar Ibrahimov Sentence: On 24 December 2025, the Supreme Court of the Azerbaijan Republic issued a sentence downward the period of imprisonment to 5 years.
Judge: Ilqar Jafarov Place of detention: Pre-trial Detention Center № 1 at the Kyurdakhani settlement in Baku City Sabunchu District Conclusion: Relatives and colleagues of the head of the Kanal 11 YouTube channel Teymur Karimov reported his disappearance.
Since noon on 11 December 2023, he has stopped communicating, calls to his mobile phone are not being received, and the location of the reporter is unknown.
In a statement issued late in the evening of 11 December, the Kanal 11 team notes that after Karimov prepared a critical video report about the head of the Dashkasan District, Ahad Abiyev, in July of this year, he began to be persecuted.
Teymur Karimov was repeatedly called to the police under various pretexts; he received calls demanding not to disseminate the videos he had filmed.
Teymur Karimov was also subjected to pressure and threats in connection with a video report about the use of force by police against veterans of the Karabakh war and their protest action.
On 29 May 2024, at the trial in the Baku City Court for Serious Crimes, Teymur Karimov testified that he had been brutally detained by the people in civilian clothes on 11 December 2023; then he had been taken to the police station and beaten.
According to him, it happened in the Department for Combating Organised Crime within the Head Office of Ministry of Internal Affairs.
There, he was first demanded to confess to a drug-related offence and subsequently to admit extortion.
"But I refused to self-incriminate but finally gave up when I was threatened with rape with a truncheon," the Channel executive said.
The Judge, Azad Majidov, said that in connection with T.
Karimov's statement it would be sent a letter to the Prosecutor's Office for investigation.
However, the defence had previously filed a complaint about torture with the Prosecutor's Office, but received a denial to open a criminal case. 14
