Biography of Nurlan Libre

Nurlan Libre was born in 1997 and has been working as a journalist since 2018. Throughout his career, he has faced significant persecution, including harassment, threats, and imprisonment due to his reporting and advocacy for human rights and press freedom in Azerbaijan.

In his early career, Nurlan worked as a reporter for Kanal13, where he covered important events such as the 2018 demonstrations related to the National Revival Day. His reporting on these protests led to his arrest and a fine by the Sabael Circuit Court. Despite these challenges, Nurlan continued his work, covering protests and human rights issues, which often resulted in further detentions and harassment by authorities.

In 2019, while covering various protests and events, Nurlan was repeatedly detained and faced physical assault from both police and other authorities. Notably, during a protest demanding the release of blogger Mehman Hüseynov, he was detained and sentenced to 21 days in administrative prison. This arrest later led to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in 2023, which found that his rights under Articles 6 and 11 of the European Convention had been violated.

In January 2020, Nurlan founded The Orange Media (Portağal Media), an independent online media platform dedicated to reporting on human rights abuses, political processes, and social issues in Azerbaijan. Despite the ongoing risks, The Orange Media has continued to provide critical, unbiased news and investigative journalism.

Nurlan's anti-war stance during the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict led to further threats and summons from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2020. In September 2023, during renewed military operations, he was kidnapped from his home, mistreated, and sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention. Following these events and a wave of arrests targeting civil society and media representatives in November 2023, Nurlan was forced to flee Azerbaijan.

After living in Georgia for four months, Nurlan now resides temporarily in Turkey. Despite being in exile, he continues to manage and operate The Orange Media remotely, striving to maintain the platform's critical role in promoting transparency, accountability, and democratic values in Azerbaijan. His dedication to independent journalism and human rights advocacy remains unwavering, and he continues to seek support to ensure the ongoing operations of The Orange Media from abroad.