IACA's relations with Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation were criticized after IACA held its 2014 annual conference in Baku at the time of a governmental crackdown on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and anti-corruption activists. According to Correctiv, one of the students at IACA was an Azerbaijani public prosecutor, who worked for the investigating authority that was prosecuting the Azerbaijani anti-corruption activist and journalist Khadija Ismayilova.
