Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev missed the informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg due to a busy work schedule. Aliyev's administration also noted that his absence from the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on December 21 was due to Azerbaijan not being a member of the organization.
The Sabail District Court of Baku extended the arrest of the head of the Azerbaijani Internet television Kanal-13 Aziz Orujov until March 27. He repeated that he considers the charges fabricated and connects them with his journalistic activities.
Aziz Orujov was detained in November 2023. He was accused of illegal housing construction and currency smuggling.
Since the end of last year, there have been repressions against independent journalists and activists in Azerbaijan. Director of the online publication Abzas Media Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifgyzy, journalist of the publication Nargiz Absalamova, as well as activist Mohammed Kekalov, who collaborated with Abzas Media, were arrested. They were accused of smuggling foreign currency.