Imprisoned Azerbaijani peace activist Bahruz Samadov appeals to Pashinyan

Researcher, peace activist, and OC Media contributor Bahruz Samadov, who  remains in prison in Azerbaijan on treason charges, has penned an open letter to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan asking him to repudiate claims he worked with Armenian intelligence services.

‘I hope that renewed contacts between [Armenia and Azerbaijan] will lead to my release in the near future and bring an end to my status as a “prisoner of peace” ’, Samadov’s letter read.

The letter was published on behalf of Samadov by Azerbaijani journalist Ulviyya Ali, who posted a copy to X on Monday evening.

Samadov was detained in August 2024 and charged with treason shortly after. He faces a possible life sentence if found guilty.

When advocating for peace becomes treason — the arrest of Bahruz Samadov

Azerbaijan’s arrest of researcher and writer Bahruz Samadov has led to widespread outcry, and speculation about the implications for the prospect of peace or further war with Armenia. On the evening of 21 August, Azerbaijani social media filled with posts calling for any information on Bahruz Samadov’s whereabouts. Samadov was visiting Azerbaijan while on holiday from his studies, and had gone missing that afternoon, shortly before he was expected to meet a friend. After two days of silenc

OC MediaYousef Bardouka

The first passage of Samadov’s letter urged Pashinyan to ‘remain committed to the peace agenda, to do your utmost to prevent ceasefire violations along the border, and to take practical steps toward making future coexistence possible’.

His statements in this regard came amidst heightened tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which started days after the two sides announced an agreement on the text of the peace treaty on 13 March, after years of negotiations.

Since 16 March, Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of firing towards its positions on various locations of the shared border over 20 times. Armenia has refuted all of the allegations, and in turn, has accused Azerbaijan of damaging, on two separate occasions, a residential building and a culture house in the village of Khnatsakh in the southern Syunik Province. In both cases, Armenia’s Defence Ministry provided photos appearing to support its claim.

Residents of Armenian border villages have also reported hearing shooting on a nightly basis in recent weeks. In March, the EU Mission in Armenia increased their nighttime patrols along the border in response.

In his letter to Pashinyan, Samadov emphasised that in order to obtain sustainable peace, ‘both sides must develop values based on a shared geography and a common future. At the heart of these values must be the unequivocal rejection of violence’.

He added that Armenia and Azerbaijan must ‘focus on models of coexistence and good neighbourliness’.

Samadov concluded his letter with a peace-seeking poem by French poet Charles Baudelaire.

OC Media reached out to Pashinyan’s office for comment, but has yet to receive a response.

According to Azerbaijani journalist Ali, the letter ‘is proof that Bahruz has had no cooperation with any foreign intelligence service. If he were not confident in himself, he would never have sent such a letter’.

She said Samadov was arrested ‘simply for corresponding with friends from Armenia’.

‘These conversations have been presented as “evidence”. Of course, this has happened because he is a peace activist and criticises the Azerbaijani government’, Ali said.

Speaking with JAMnews, Samadov’s only surviving close relative, his 83-year-old grandmother, Zibeyde Osmanova, expressed confidence that Samadov was innocent, and that he only wanted peace.

‘I ask them: what exactly is this “state treason”? They answer: “Your grandson wants peace with the Armenians. Bahruz has written such articles, we’ve read them” ’, Osmanova said.

Detained Azerbaijani researcher Bahruz Samadov ‘forced’ to end hunger strike

Samadov has cited his mistreatment in detention and the authorities denying him medical care.

OC MediaYousef Bardouka