Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of imprisoned political scientist and OC Media contributor Bahruz Samadov, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on treason charges in June 2025. Following Thursday’s decision, Samadov chanted slogans including ‘Freedom!’, ‘End illegal arrests!’, and ‘End repression!’.
The defence had demanded Samadov’s acquittal on the basis that ‘the charges were unsubstantiated’. They also requested the court overturn Samadov’s transfer to the stricter-regime Umbaki Prison. Samadov was transferred to the Umbaki prison for a term of one year in October 2025.
According to Samadov’s lawyer Zibeyda Sadigova, Samadov has serious health problems and suffers from multiple illnesses.
In his own closing statement, Samadov stated that he suffers from a serious eye condition. He claimed that an expert had concluded that his time spent in confined spaces has negatively impacted his health, including his rapidly deteriorating vision.
While in prison, Sadigova said Samadov had been repeatedly subjected to pressure, including by being placed in solitary confinement.
The independent media outlet Toplum TV wrote that during his testimony, Samadov dedicated his speech to the memory of deceased activists Mehman Galandarov, Bayram Mammadov, and Elbayi Karimli.
Galandarov, an opposition activist, was detained on drug charges in February 2017 and he took his own life in April 2017 at the Baku Pre-trial Detention Centre. Karimli was detained in August 2023 after spraying ‘Stalin’ on the statue of the former President Heydar Aliyev. His body was found in December 2025 in the Correctional Facility N2. Mammadov, with Giyas Ibrahim, sprayed graffiti on Aliyev’s statue in May 2016 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on drug charges. After his early release, he moved to Turkey, where he died in May 2021 under circumstances some of his friends and family found suspicious.
Samadov claimed that Galandarov and Karimli were driven to the brink of suicide in prison, while Mammadov also suffered stress as a result of torture.
Saying, ‘I am not an enemy of Azerbaijan’, Samadov maintained his innocence and claimed that he had been arrested for political reasons.
He concluded his speech with the words: ‘Long live peace and democracy!’
