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Media Defence and Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova have secured a landmark win before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The ECtHR has found that Azerbaijan weaponised criminal law to silence Ismayilova, describing her prosecution as unlawful, grossly arbitrary and contrary to the rule of law. 

The Court held that charges of “illegal entrepreneurship” and “tax evasion” were brought to punish her for exposing high-level corruption. It found violations of four provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, including Article 18

(limitation on use of restrictions on rights), concluding that the criminal proceedings pursued an improper purpose. The ruling speaks to the use of non-speech criminal offences to target critical journalists: an issue with wider relevance across the region and beyond.

Media Defence’s Legal Director, Pádraig Hughes, who represented Ismayilova before the Court, said: “The Court’s findings on Articles 10 and 18 are significant because they unmask Azerbaijan’s strategy of prosecuting critical journalists on trumped-up charges that are ostensibly unrelated to anything the journalist has published. The Court has recognised that Khadija’s trial was a sham, and its sole purpose was to punish her for her reporting that exposed corruption among Azeri officials.”

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Cameroon Court Reduces 10-Year Sentence Against Journalist Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka

Cameroon boasts one of Africa’s richest media landscapes. Yet it remains among the continent’s most perilous environments for journalists: ranked 131st in RSF’s Press Freedom Index, the country is notorious for arbitrary arrests, politically motivated detentions, unfair trials, kidnappings, violent attacks, and even assassinations targeting media professionals.

Late last year, however, brought a small victory for the case of freelance journalist Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka, who spent more than five years in jail on charges of secession and collusion with an armed group.

Vexatious criminal proceedings against L’Empaillé, an independent outlet based in southern France, have been dismissed. The outlet had been prosecuted for “public insult” following a complaint by the director of Perpignan’s municipal police, after publishing an investigation into local governance and policing under Mayor Louis Aliot, who is also vice-president of the far-right Rassemblement National party. The case raised concern because it was pursued outside the framework of France’s 1881 press freedom law, which provides safeguards for journalistic expression. In January 2026, the court dismissed the proceedings on procedural grounds. While the court dismissed the case on procedural grounds, the financial and psychological burden of defending such claims is significant for small independent media.

In response to the dismissal, the editorial team at L’Empaillé  pledged to “continue to investigate the far right, more than ever.”

Meanwhile, the French Court of Appeal has dismissed a defamation case against Marseille-based news outlet Marsactu. The news site published an investigation into the professional practices of orthopaedic surgeon and knee specialist Michel Assor, who responded with a defamation lawsuit seeking €600,000 in damages.

Marsactu reported that the doctor had numerous legal proceedings and complaints against him from his patients. The news site continued its coverage as the investigation progressed, including after he was formally charged in February 2025 and barred from practising traumatology and orthopaedics. He was accused of intentional violence, unlawful practice of medicine and fraud.

⚖️ L’Empaillé’s and Marsactu’s* legal costs were covered by the Ripostes Fund, created by the Fonds pour une Presse Libre in partnership with Media Defence. The fund ensures independent media can defend themselves against abusive legal action and continue reporting in the public interest.

* Marsactu’s case was initially supported through Media Defence’s Emergency Defence Programme, and later through Ripostes, following the fund’s launch in October 2025.

Read more about the cases below:

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Ramazan Demir is one of 28 people — including ten lawyers — sentenced in a mass trial stemming from a 2016 crackdown on Kurdish human rights defenders.

A Kurdish lawyer who has defended many journalists, including in cases supported by Media Defence, Demir has been handed an 11-year and three-month prison sentence.

The case originally involved 50 defendants, among them members of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) and the now-closed Association for Solidarity with Prisoners’ Families (TUAD), many of whom worked on media freedom cases.

The International Commission of Jurists has described the proceedings as a blatant attack on due process, the right to defence and the independence of the legal profession. The case reflects the continued criminalisation of legitimate legal work — and of Kurdish journalists, human rights defenders and those who represent them.

This pattern extends beyond Türkiye. Globally, lawyers defending journalists and human rights defenders face increasing disbarment, harassment, exile and imprisonment. Media Defence sees this first-hand through its network of more than 400 media freedom lawyers.

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