Bahruz Samadov, Azerbaijan
Posted April 22, 2019
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 (IWPR), Baku Research Institute, the Institute for International Political Studies, and the International Journal of Politics. Read more.
Case Information
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, an accusation that authorities have used to silence critics of the government over the years.
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–a decades long, entrenched conflict between Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the self-declared Armenian breakaway state of Artsakh–and 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. Samadov faces a sentence of 12 to 20 years.
In a closed-door trial on June 23, the court sentenced Mr. Samadov to 15 years in prison for “high treason.”
On December 1, 2025, the Binagadi District Court granted the request of the Penitentiary No. 11 administration to transfer Mr. Samadov to the Umbaki Penitentiary Complex, a maximum security prison. He was transferred for reportedly making repeated attempts to demand evidence and video recordings of the court’s violations and lack of due process.
On January 31, 2026, Mr. Samadov warned that the decision to move him to Umbaki prison would jeopardize his life and deprive him of communication with his lawyer and grandmother.
On February 5, Mr. Samadov’s appeal to the decision was rejected by the Baku Appellation Court. Immediately afterwards, he announced that he would begin an indefinite hunger strike.
According to his grandmother, Mr. Samadov is also suffering from a skin disease. His requests to be transferred to a prison hospital have been denied.