Release wrongfully imprisoned PhD student Bahruz Samadov
Posted December 16, 2025
Scholars at Risk sent the below letter on behalf of SAR, Amnesty International, and SAIH, to Azerbaijani authorities, urging them to secure the immediate release of wrongfully imprisoned PhD student, Mr. Bahruz Samadov. Take action by signing a letter here.
Via email to: office@pa.gov.az
The Honorable Ilham Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
Office of the President of Azerbaijan
19 Istiqlaliyyat Street
Baku AZ1066, Azerbaijan
December 16, 2025
RE: Release wrongfully imprisoned PhD student Bahruz Samadov
Your Excellency:
We, the undersigned civil society organizations, write to respectfully urge you to secure the immediate release of Bahruz Samadov, a PhD student at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, and freelance journalist and researcher who has been wrongfully detained in Azerbaijan on charges of “high treason” in apparent retaliation for his research on military involvement in a regional conflict.
Bahruz Samadov is an Azerbaijani PhD student in the political science department at Charles University of Prague and a freelance political analyst. He is also a well-regarded researcher, having published articles across numerous platforms including OC Media, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Baku Research Institute, the Institute for International Political Studies, and the International Journal of Politics.
We understand that on the evening of August 21, 2024, Azerbaijani security forces entered Mr. Samadov’s grandmother’s house, where he was staying while on summer break from university, and arrested him. Police reportedly told Mr. Samadov’s grandmother that Mr. Samadov was suspected of engaging in illegal drug activities. On August 24, the Baku court updated Mr. Samadov’s charges to “high treason” and remanded him to four months of pretrial detention. The court alleged that Mr. Samadov had provided sensitive information to Armenia, an act that violated Article 274 of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, which prohibits actions that jeopardize “the sovereignty, territorial integrity, state security or defensibility of the Azerbaijan Republic.” Human rights organizations suggest that these charges stem from Mr. Samadov’s research on the use of military forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and academic connections with Armenian activists. On December 19, the Baku Sabail District Court extended Mr. Samadov’s pre-trial detention for an additional four months, and on January 22, 2025, the court denied his petition to be moved to house arrest. On June 23, a court in Baku sentenced Mr. Samadov to 15 years in prison in a closed-door hearing.
In prison, Mr. Samadov continues to be subjected to pressures that have caused him to attempt suicide twice. He was recently kept in solitary confinement at Correctional Facility #11 and, in an apparent effort to further stress Mr. Samadov’s mental health, we understand that authorities have ordered his transfer to the maximum security section of Umbaku Prison, a facility known for its poor conditions of detention that may amount to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and that, importantly, is located 60 miles away from Mr. Samadov’s only relative, his grandmother, who has her own health issues and is unable to travel easily, further isolating Mr. Samadov. Given Mr. Samadov’s precarious mental health, we have serious concerns for his life.
We welcome any additional information that may clarify our understanding of these events. Absent this, the facts appear to indicate that Mr. Samadov was arrested and charged as a result of his peaceful exercise of the rights to academic freedom and freedom of expression–conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights law and stipulated in a number of international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Azerbaijan is a party. Any charges for what we can only assume–absent clear public evidence from the state–to be nonviolent expressive conduct are unfounded. Detentions and prosecutions in connection to scholarly activity raise serious concerns about protection for free expression, academic freedom, and the higher education space in Azerbaijan. Furthermore, in the context of the recent peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Mr. Samadov’s conviction–for allegedly conducting research on the conflict–appears misaligned with Azerbaijan’s efforts to secure peace.
We therefore respectfully urge you to secure Mr. Samadov’s immediate and unconditional release, unless there is any credible evidence of a recognizable crime, in which case the case must proceed in a manner consistent with internationally recognized standards of due process, fair trial, and detention, in accordance with Azerbaijan’s obligations under international law, which includes access to family and the public disclosure of the circumstances of his detention, charges, and the evidence of any alleged crime.
We appreciate your attention to this important matter and look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Scholars at Risk
Amnesty International
SAIH
CC:
Colonel-General Eyvazov Vilayat Süleymanoğlu
Minister of Internal Affairs
7 Azerbaijan Ave,
Baku, AZ1005, Azerbaijan
Email: info@mia.gov.az; international@mia.gov.az
The Honorable Yashar Aliyev
Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations
Email: info@azerbaijan-un.org
The Honorable António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
Email: sgcentral@un.org
The Honorable Volker Türk
High Commissioner for Human Rights
Email: ohchr-InfoDesk@un.org; ohchr-civilsociety@un.org
The Honorable Michael O’Flaherty
Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe
Email: commissioner@coe.int