Human Rights

Prisoner of Conscience: Bahruz Samadov

Azerbaijani researcher and freelance journalist Bahruz Samadov disappeared in Baku on August 21, 2024 while visiting home during a break from his doctoral studies at Charles University in Prague. His family and friends turned to social media to search for him. Within two days, it became clear that Samadov had been detained and charged with treason. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in jail or even life imprisonment.

A respected academic and journalist, Samadov has authored numerous papers on Azerbaijan's political development and contributed regularly to regional publications, including Georgia-based OC Media and Eurasianet. He had been particularly critical of Azerbaijan's 2020 military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Just before his arrest, he had submitted an op-ed analysing Azerbaijan's cooling relations with Turkey in the context of the ongoing war in Gaza.

According to his lawyer, as cited by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Samadov is accused of passing unspecified information to Armenia. Samadov denies the charges, describing himself as a "prisoner of peace". His supporters see his detention as an attempt to silence his work as a political commentator and writer.

The crackdown soon extended beyond Samadov. Samad Shikhi, a contributor to OC Media and a friend of Samadov, was detained and released the next day. By the end of the month, two other contributors were detained briefly for questioning and then released.

A number of international human rights advocates condemned his arrest and urged authorities to release him.

In a statement issued in September 2024, the CPJ’s programme coordinator for Europe and Central Asia, Gulnoza Said, declared that "Criticism does not equate to treason. Azerbaijani authorities must drop the charges against Samadov and stop their escalating repression against dissenting voices."

"As Azerbaijan's crackdown widens to envelop ever more journalists, activists, and academics, Bahruz Samadov's penetrating critiques of Azerbaijani authoritarianism and militarism amid the ongoing conflict with Armenia seem to have played a major role in his arrest," Said noted.

Amnesty International's South Caucasus Researcher, Natalia Nozadze, condemned the arrest: "The targeting of journalists and activists is nothing short of an attempt to silence dissent and suppress freedom of expression, particularly of those who are advocating for peace with Armenia." 

Prisoners of Conscience

Prisoners of Conscience from East and Southeast Europe

We feature select few prisoners of conscience out of the many in East and Southeast Europe. One political prisoner is one too many. 

Find out who the other political prisoners are #PrisonersofConscience  #FreeThemAll and in the special Focus on our website.