Azerbaijani researcher and freelance journalist Bahruz Samadov has been detained since August 2024. In June 2025, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for treason.
Samadov is one of at least 25 journalists and media workers jailed between late 2023 and August 2025, in a major crackdown on the independent press and civil society in Azerbaijan.
Samadov, who is a prominent peace activist, has contributed to English-language regional media, including Georgia-based OC Media and U.S.-based Eurasianet.
On August 21, 2024, officers from Azerbaijan’s State Security Service arrested Samadov, a doctoral student in the Czech Republic, during a trip to Azerbaijan to visit family and searched his family home in the capital, Baku, citing a drug inquiry. On August 23, a Baku court ordered him to be held in pre-trial detention for four months on treason charges, which carry a potential life sentence, according to Azerbaijan’s criminal code.
Samadov’s lawyer, Zibeyda Sadygova, told CPJ that authorities accuse Samadov of passing information to Armenia, which has been involved in a protracted conflict with Azerbaijan, but said she was unable to provide further details because authorities had classified the case as secret. Samadov denies the charges, she said, adding that the journalist did not have access to any sensitive data.
In an interview conducted in prison by a fellow jailed journalist, Samadov said security services told him the reason for his arrest was that Armenians frequently cited his articles, which include columns on Azerbaijani militarism and authoritarianism.
A video report by pro-government media, which reportedly receive instructions from the authorities on what to publish, denounced Samadov as an anti-war activist and accused him of writing “subversive and biased” articles for the “anti-Azerbaijan” Eurasianet.
Rustam Ismayilbayli, a friend of Samadov’s, told CPJ that he believes Samadov was targeted both as a prominent advocate of a peaceful resolution of Azerbaijan’s conflict with Armenia and for his journalism.
In June 2025, Samadov attempted suicide in prison after prosecutors requested a 16-year sentence for him. In his interview, he said he had wanted his death “to be like a final word on the state of the country” amid the injustice of Azerbaijan’s crackdown.
On June 23, a court sentenced Samadov to 15 years in prison on the treason charges.
Samadov has undertaken several hunger strikes in protest against rights violations and unjust prosecution, and reported being “savagely beaten” in prison for requesting a copy of the Bible.
On August 13, Samadov’s appeal got underway in a closed court hearing in Baku.
CPJ emailed the State Security Service and the Penitentiary Service of Azerbaijan for comment in August 2025 but did not receive any replies.