The Baku Connection Project

Pursuing the Work of Azerbaijan’s Silenced Voices

The Baku Connection Project was selected for the 2025 Shortlist with The Baku Connection.

Coordinated by Forbidden Stories, 40 journalists from 15 media outlets continued the work of their colleagues who were arrested in Azerbaijan. Behind prison walls today, Abzas Media journalists were among the last in the country to investigate the abuses of the powerful Aliyev regime, delving into issues of corruption, pollution, and human rights. Media Partners include: Abzas Media, Der Standard, d’Lëtzebuerger Land, France 24, IRPI, Knack, Le Monde, Le Soir, NRC, OCCRP, Paper Trail Media, Radio France, RFI, RTS, Tamedia, The Guardian, ZDF.

Azerbaijani authorities arrested on 20 and 21 November 2023 three members of Abzas Media: Ulvi Hasanli, its Director; Sevinc Vaqifqızı, its Editor; and Mahammad Kekalov, Hasanli’s assistant. All three were placed in pre-trial detention for a period of four months on trumped up charges of “smuggling foreign currency”, which carry a potential prison sentence of eight years. Authorities also seized several hard drives, telephones and computers belonging to them. In the weeks following their arrest, three more members of Abzas Media were placed in detention on the same charges.

Abzas Media had published investigations into the corruption of senior officials and the origins of the wealth of Aliyev’s relatives. On 20 November 2023, Abzas Media published a statement on its Facebook page alleging Hasanli had been beaten and tortured by police. The outlet furthermore stated: “We think that by ordering his arrest, the president aims to shut down the media and prevent information about corruption crimes from reaching you. But as Abzas Media, no arrest or other pressure can prevent us from delivering the right news to you.”

Forbidden Stories – an international network of investigative journalists whose mission is to pursue the investigations of assassinated, imprisoned or threatened reporters – met with Vaqifqızı and her colleagues at Abzas Media on several occasions in the past, including at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in September 2023. A few hours before being arrested, she was in contact with Forbidden Stories, and told us: “we believe [Hasanli’s arrest] is directly related to our investigations.” Upon their arrest, Vaqifqızı and other Abzas Media journalists also requested other journalists to pursue their investigations. With their consent, that’s precisely what we did.

The first part of The Baku Connection project was published on February 1st 2024, in the run-up to presidential elections in Azerbaijan. With our media partners, we investigated the questionable management of Azerbaijani prisons and the dirty deeds of the Gedabek gold mine in the western part of the country.

The second part was published after the elections, on 20 February 2024. Published after the elections, that second chapter looked into how Azerbaijan manipulates election observation to give itself a facade of democracy.

The third part was published on November 8th 2024, right when COP29 was about to start. We uncovered a web of shady dealings involving a French Riviera villa, Luxembourg business arrangements, a disgraced notary, and Franco-Azerbaijani businessman Khagani Bashirov, suspected of embezzling millions.

The Baku Connection demonstrates how investigative journalism can serve as a powerful catalyst in the fight against impunity.

TEAM

Abzas Media: Leyla Mustafayeva

February 2025
How Did a High-Ranking Azerbaijan Official Acquire a Multi-Million Property in France?

d’Lëtzebuerger Land: Pierre Sorlut

November 2024
Caviar fiduciaire

Forbidden Stories: Annie Hylton, Edouard Perrin, Eloise Layan, Laurent Richard, Léa Peruchon, Mariana Abreu, Paciane Rouchon, Sandrine Rigaud, Sofía Álvarez Jurado, Youssr Youssef

February 2024
The Baku Connection: Pursuing the Work of Azerbaijan’s Silenced Voices – (trailer)
Torture In Azerbaijan: How European funds flow to Baku’s Prisons – (video)
From Azerbaijan to Smartphones: How tainted gold ends up in high-tech products – (video)
Azerbaijan’s business of election observation – (video)
November 2024
The villa, the businessman, and the stolen millions: From the French Riviera to Luxembourg, revelations on Azerbaijan’s ill-gotten gains – (video)

France 24: Corentin Bainier, Ershad Alijani, Karina Chabour, Roméo Langlois, Sebastian Seibt

February 2024
Azerbaïdjan, The Baku Connection
Torture en Azerbaïdjan : quand l’Europe regarde ailleurs
En Azerbaïdjan, une mine d’or accusée de pollution dans l’opacité
“Baku connection” : la France, un punching-ball de choix pour l’Azerbaïdjan
How France became the target of Azerbaijan’s smear campaign
November 2024
Côte d’Azur: Behind a luxury villa, Azerbaijani interests

IRPI: Edoardo Anziano, Gabriele Nunziati, Leone Spallino, Lorenzo Bagnoli

February 2024
In Azerbaijan il dittatore Aliyev continua ad arrestare i giornalisti indipendenti

Knack: Kristof Clerix

February 2024
Foltering in Azerbeidzjan hoe europees geld naar gevangenissen in bakoe stroomt

Le Monde: Philippe Jacqué

February 2024
En Azerbaïdjan, l’enquête interdite sur des cas de torture dans des prisons bénéficiant de fonds européens

Le Soir: Joël Matriche, Louis Colart

February 2024
Torture en Azerbaïdjan : quand l’argent de l’Europe finit dans les geôles de Bakou
Une enquête transnationale

NRC: Lucas Brouwers, Wilmer Heck, Wubby Luyendijk

February 2024
Europees geld moest marteling in Azerbeidzjan voorkomen, maar journalist Hasanli wordt in de cel geschopt en geslagen

OCCRP: Ilya Lozovsky, James Dowsett, Kelly Bloss, Miranda Patrucic, Robert Denis

February 2024
‘Total Control’: Azerbaijan’s Jails Fill With Journalists and Dissidents as Election Approaches
November 2024
Luxembourg Bank ‘Central’ to Purchase of High-End British Real Estate with Embezzled Azerbaijan Funds, U.K. Police Say (November 2024)

Paper Trail Media along with Der Standard, Tamedia and ZDF: Bastian Obermayer, Frederik Obermaier, Hannes Muzinger, Maria Retter, Olivier Zihlmann, Sophia Stahl

February 2024
Wie europäisches Geld in den Kerkern von Baku versickert
EU-Geld für die Folter-Kerker von Baku
Warum Aserbaidschan Nationalrat Gugger wirklich aussperrte

Radio France: Virginie Pironon

February 2024
ENQUÊTE – Azerbaïdjan : l’or de la colère
En Azerbaïdjan, l’opposition à un projet de mine d’or dérange le pouvoir

RFI: Daniel Vallot

February 2024
Dans les geôles d’Azerbaïdjan: la torture continue, la coopération européenne aussi

RTS: François Ruchti

February 2024
Six journalistes arrêtés en Azerbaïdjan pour avoir enquêté sur de l’or exporté en Suisse

The Guardian: David Pegg, Paul Lewis, Rachel Olroyd

February 2024
Azerbaijan accused of crackdown on journalists in run-up to election

The Border Graves Investigation

The Border Graves Investigation Team was selected for the 2024 Shortlist with The Border Graves Investigation.

A cross-border team confirmed 1,015 unmarked graves of migrants in 65 cemeteries buried over the last 10 years across Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, Poland, Lithuania, France, and Croatia. The main Border Graves Investigation team of eight journalists visited over half of them.

Unidentified migrants rest in cemeteries in olive groves, on hilltops, in dense forests, and along remote highways. Each unmarked grave represents a person who lost their life en route to Europe, and a fate that will remain forever unknown to their loved ones.

Over one thousand people are confirmed to have been failed by Europe’s migration policies. In 2021, the European Parliament passed a resolution recognizing the need for a “coordinated European approach” for “prompt and effective identification processes” for bodies found on EU borders. Yet last year, the Council of Europe called this area a “legislative void.”

These failures mean that the responsibility of memorializing unidentified victims often ends up falling to individual municipalities, cemetery keepers and even good-willed residents, with many victims being buried without any attempt at identification.

In the absence of official data from European and national governments, the Border Graves Investigation team collaborated with The Guardian and Süddeutsche Zeitung to count 2,162 unidentified deaths of migrants across eight countries in Europe from 2014-2023.

The cross-border team conducted over 60 interviews in six languages. They spoke with families of the missing and deceased, whose loved ones left for Europe from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Algeria, and Sri Lanka. They spoke about the institutional and bureaucratic hurdles of searching for, and if found, burying a body. One mother compared the unresolved grief to an “open wound,” and an uncle said it was like “dying every day.”

In order to understand the complex legal, medical, and political landscape of death in each country, the team spoke with coroners, grave keepers, forensic doctors, international and local humanitarian groups, government officials, a European MEP, and the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner.

Their in-depth investigation reveals that the European Union is violating migrants’ last rights.

Main Team: 


Collaborating team:


Additional Credits: 

This investigation was supported by Investigative Journalism for Europe and Journalismfund Europe. Additional support by Limelight Foundation.

Publications:

English

Unbias the News:


CBC:


Guardian:

Balkan Insight:


Madrid No Frills:


Lithuanian Radio Television (LRT): 


Lithuanian

Spanish

Italian

German

Greek

Croatian

Bulgarian