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Freedom House calls on democratic governments to hold the Aliyev regime accountable for repression against journalists.

"Today's crackdown on Azerbaijani broadcaster Toplum TV is the Aliyev regime's latest unacceptable attack on critical, independent voices in the country," the organizations posted on X on Wednesday.

"The 10+ employees reportedly detained today join the dozens of other media workers in Azerbaijan targeted for their reporting.

"We will continue to closely monitor the Aliyev regime's campaign against civil society, activists, and independent media, and we urge democratic governments to hold the regime accountable for this wave of repression," Freedom House added.

Azerbaijani police have raided the offices of the online television station Toplum TV, OC Media reported.

Journalist Gulzar Mammadli reported on Wednesday afternoon that police had surrounded the building and that two of the site’s journalists, Elmir Abbasov and Araz Aliyev had been detained. RFE/RL reported that other journalists had been taken away by police and were currently not reachable.

The Interior Ministry told BBC Azerbaijan that ‘operational search measures’ were being carried out based on ‘information received about the activities of a group of people’.

The raid comes amidst a widespread crackdown on the few remaining media outlets still operating in Azerbaijan that do not take a pro-government line.