Azerbaijan: Increasing repression against critics

(Berlin) – Azerbaijani authorities have arrested a researcher and political analyst, Bahruz Samadov, on charges of treason, amid the government’s escalating crackdown on its critics, Human Rights Watch said today. Samadov, a doctoral candidate at Charles University in Prague, is the latest scholar to be attacked ahead of COP29, the United Nations global climate summit, which Azerbaijan will host in November 2024.

In July, authorities arrested another investigator, Igbal Abilov, also on charges of treason. The courts sent both men to four months of pretrial detention. If found guilty, they could face long prison sentences, including life in prison. The arrests of Samadov and Abilov are the latest in a stunning series of arrests targeting critical voices in the country.

“The Azerbaijani authorities have been relentless in their attack on dissenting voices, and the arrests of Samadov and Abilov are the latest examples of this repression,” said Giorgi Gogia, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Azerbaijan’s hostility toward independent civic activism raises serious concerns about whether human rights defenders, academics, journalists, and other independent members of the civil society “Will be able to participate meaningfully in COP29.”

Samadov, 29, is a regular contributor to numerous international and regional publications and media outlets, and often writes critical pieces on political developments in Azerbaijan. He has also been an outspoken critic of the Second Karabakh War, fought in 2020, in which Azerbaijan regained control of Nagorno-Karabakh, and has written about retaliatory measures against anti-war advocates.

Authorities arrested Samadov on August 21, while he was visiting Baku during the summer holidays to spend time with his grandmother. Several officers from the State Security Service searched his home and seized two mobile devices, two laptops, university diplomas, Samadov’s ID card and passport.

Authorities charged Samadov with treason and on August 23, a Baku court ordered his detention for four months of pre-trial detention, which the Baku Appeals Court upheld on August 27. Authorities alleged that Samadov communicated sensitive information to Armenian citizens via WhatsApp Messenger and acted on their orders.

During the custody hearing, Samadov strongly denied the allegations, stating that he had no sensitive information to disclose and that he had not acted on anyone’s orders. He also said that he was a “prisoner of peace” because he strongly opposes wars and people dying because of them. Samadov was one of the few voices who dared to criticize the Azerbaijani authorities’ military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. Samadov was one of the signatories of a peace declaration in early October 2020. He has been called a “traitor” and otherwise harassed online in retaliation for his activism.

On July 22, authorities arrested Igbal Abilov, 34, a member of the Talysh minority group who studies ethnic minorities. He is one of the founders of the Talysh National Academy, established in 2010, and the editor-in-chief of the publication of the same name.

Abilov, who lives in Belarus, was visiting Azerbaijan for his cousin’s wedding. His lawyer told Human Rights Watch that when he tried to return to Belarus in late June, border officials refused to let him leave the country, telling him he was under a travel ban. A few weeks later, police arrested Abilov in his village, and a Baku court remanded him in custody pending investigation on charges of treason, sedition on the orders of foreign actors, and incitement to national, racial, social or religious hatred and enmity. A pro-government media outlet accused him of acting on behalf of Armenia’s national security services.

Authorities have imposed a ban on all communication with his family, including visits. His lawyer told Human Rights Watch that they have appealed the ban in court and are awaiting a response.

On August 27, another well-known Azerbaijani researcher, Cavidan Aghayev (Cavid Aga), was at Baku airport on his way to Lithuania to continue his studies when his friends and family lost contact with him. Hours later, Aghayev posted on social media that the authorities had prevented him from leaving the country and were holding him for questioning as a witness in the ongoing investigation against Samadov. Aghayev remains in Azerbaijan.

In the year leading up to COP29, authorities have arrested more than 30 independent journalists, civil society activists and academics on a variety of trumped-up charges, including smuggling money into the country, illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering and tax evasion. Among those arrested is veteran human rights defender Anar Mammadli, who co-founded an independent climate justice organisation in the weeks before his arrest and is currently in pre-trial detention.

Another well-known economist and professor, Gubad Ibadoghlu, specializes in revenue transparency and anti-corruption in the oil and gas sector. He was arrested in July 2023 and spent nine months in pre-trial detention before being transferred to house arrest.

According to Human Rights Watch, meaningful civil society participation and open debate, without fear of reprisals, are important to hold governments to account and ensure ambitious climate outcomes that respect human rights at COP29.

“Azerbaijan must release those wrongly imprisoned and end the repression,” Gogia said. “They must ensure that activists, human rights defenders and journalists can participate meaningfully before, during and after the COP29 conference.”