Azerbaijan: Crackdown on critics escalates

(Berlin)- Azerbaijani Authorities have arrested researcher and political analyst Bakhruz Samadov on trumped-up charges of treason as part of a growing government crackdown on critics, Human Rights Watch said today. Samadov, a doctoral student at Charles University in Prague, is the latest academic to be targeted ahead of the United Nations climate summit, COP29, which will be held in Azerbaijan in November 2024.

In July, authorities arrested another researcher, Igbal Abilov, on trumped-up charges of treason. A court sentenced both men to four months of pretrial detention. If convicted, they face lengthy prison sentences, even life in prison. The arrests of Samadov and Abilov are the latest in a series of stunning arrests of critics in the country.

“The Azerbaijani authorities have waged a ruthless attack on dissent, and the arrests of Samadov and Abilov are the latest example of this repression,” he said. Giorgio Goggia“Azerbaijan’s hostility toward independent citizen activism raises serious concerns for human rights defenders, academics, journalists, and other independent citizens,” said Andrew Lloyd-Smith, deputy director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch. Civil Society will be able to participate meaningfully at COP29.”

Samadov, 29, is a regular contributor to numerous international and regional publications and media outlets, often writing critical articles on political developments in Azerbaijan. He has also been an outspoken critic of the Second Karabakh War, which broke out in 2020, in which Azerbaijan regained control of Nagorno-Karabakh. wrote Retaliation against anti-war activists.

On August 21, authorities arrested Samadov while he was in Baku to spend time with his grandmother during the summer vacation. search his home and confiscated two mobile devices, two laptops, university diplomas, Samadov’s ID card and passport.

Authorities charged Samadov with treason and ordered him to be detained for four months on August 23, a sentence upheld by the Baku Court of Appeal on August 27. Authorities claimed that Samadov passed sensitive information to Armenian nationals via WhatsApp Messenger and acted on their instructions.

During the detention hearing, Samadov strongly denied the charges, saying he had no sensitive information to disclose and was not acting on anyone’s orders. He also said he was a “prisoner of peace” because he was firmly against the war and the people who died as a result of it. Samadov was one of the few voices that dared to criticize the Azerbaijani authorities’ military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. Samadov is a member of the Peace Declaration in early October 2020. He was called a “traitor” and harassed online for his activities.

On July 22, the authorities Arrested Igbal Abilov, 34, is a member of the Talysh minority and studies minority issues. He is one of the founders of the Talysh National Academy, established in 2010, and is the editor-in-chief of the academy’s eponymous journal.

Abilov, who lives in Belarus, was in Azerbaijan to attend a 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 and told him he was under a travel ban. A few weeks later, police arrested Abilov in his village, and a Baku court sent him to pretrial detention pending an investigation into charges of treason, sedition on the orders of a foreign actor, and incitement to national, racial, social, or religious hatred and enmity. A pro-government media outlet defendant He acted on behalf of Armenia’s national security services.

Authorities have banned him from having any contact with his family, including visits. His lawyers told Human Rights Watch that they have appealed the ban in court and are awaiting a response.

On August 27, another prominent Azerbaijani researcher, Cavid Agaev, lost contact with him at Baku airport while on his way to Lithuania to continue his studies. A few hours later, Agaev posted on social media that authorities had prevented him from leaving the country and were questioning him as a witness in an ongoing investigation into Samadov. Agaev remains in Azerbaijan.

In the year leading up to COP29, the authorities arrested more than 30 independent journalists, civil society activists and academics on trumped-up charges, including smuggling funds into the country, illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering and tax evasion. Among those arrested was a senior human rights defender, Anar MamadliHe co-founded an independent climate justice group in the weeks before his arrest and is currently in pretrial detention.

The other is a famous economist and professor, Gubad IbadogluSpecializing in revenue transparency and anti-corruption issues 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.

Meaningful civil society participation and public debate, without fear of reprisal, are critical to holding governments accountable and ensuring an ambitious and human rights-respecting climate outcome at COP29, Human Rights Watch said.

“Azerbaijan should release those unjustly imprisoned and end its repression,” Gogia said. “They should guarantee that activists, human rights defenders, and journalists can meaningfully participate before, during, and after COP29.”