Young scholars and researchers were detained in the most recent crackdown
Originally published on Global Voices
Image by Arzu Geybullayeva
The Azerbaijani government is gearing up to host COP29, the world's largest annual international environmental conference which will be held in Baku from November 11–22. But their preparation is not about devising plans to support a green economy or limiting global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, as per the 2015 Paris Agreement. If anything President Ilham Aliyev made it clear the country had no such plans and that it would continue investing and producing fossil fuels. Instead, ahead of COP29, Azerbaijani authorities have been attacking the remaining independent voices critical of the regime, arresting scores of activists, politicians, and academics on bogus charges. Azerbaijan has had one of the lowest international track records on citizens’ rights and freedoms and President Aliyev, has insisted persecutions against civil society are justified.
The most recent wave of persecution includes the arrest of a young scholar Bahruz Samadov, pursuing a PhD degree at Charles University in the Czech Republic. Samadov was detained on August 21st, in Baku and taken to the State Security Service. Two days later, a court in Baku handed Samadov a four-month pretrial detention on charges of treason. Samadov stands accused of conspiring against the state by communicating with Armenian nationals on WhatsApp. Samadov denies the charges.
Samadov has penned a series of opinion pieces on Azerbaijan for various international and regional media over the recent years. He was also among the community of peace activists who strongly opposed the Second Karabakh War in 2020 for which Samadov and others were targeted.
In an interview with Global Voices, a friend of Samadov, who preferred to remain anonymous due to security concerns, said it was his writing that led to his arrest.
He was harshly criticizing the undemocratic regime in Azerbaijan in his articles. He was one of the few public voices who stood up against violations of human rights and the rights of Armenians in Karabakh. Bahruz has been threatened a couple of times because of his articles and social media activities. He was the target of the state because of his opinions.
In addition to Samadov, police arrested and sentenced another young researcher Ilgar Abilov, who researches ethnic minorities and lives in Belarus, to four months in pre-trial detention in July 2024. Abilov is being charged with treason; making calls against the state based on orders of foreign actors; and inciting national, racial, social, or religious hatred and enmity.
Shortly after Bahruz Samadov's arrest, another peace activist Samad Shikhi was detained at the airport and prevented from leaving the country. He was then questioned as a witness in an investigation launched against Samadov. The most recent airport detention also includes Cavid Agha, an independent researcher who was leaving the country to pursue his studies.
In the dead heat of late August, Azerbaijan has enacted a new purge of young scholars and social media voices whose primary concern was peace. These aren’t practitioners in projects, programmes or organizations, but students + freelancers with independent + critical perspectives.
— Laurence Broers (@LaurenceBroers) August 29, 2024
A group of young scholars working in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan issued a statement, condemning the crackdown, saying, “The arbitrary arrest and detention of members of the academic community is incompatible with Azerbaijan’s international commitments and it is a durable stain on the country’s reputation.”
Last summer, another PhD student, Fazil Gasimov who was a student at Istanbul University was deported from Turkey to Azerbaijan, where he was accused of producing counterfeit currency and sentenced to pre-trial detention. Gasimov was arrested as part of another investigation launched against veteran politician, academic, and corruption expert Gubad Ibadoglu. On August 30, during a hearing in his case, Gasimov described in detail how he was ill-treated and tortured in detention and forced to testify against Ibadoglu. He also said, that despite being on hunger strike against his unlawful and unjust arrest, since June 11, he continuous to be treated inhumanely. “I have been on hunger strike since June 11. As a result, I have serious health problems. I cannot move properly. And yet, I am held for hours on end, with my hands cuffed behind my back, in a small dark cell. This is emotional terror and political repression,” said Gasimov.
Much to the public's alarm, over the last year, the state has intensified its crackdown and arrested scores of journalists, politicians, and activists. And the list of detainees just seems to be growing.
In April, police arrested Anar Mammadli, a political activist, former political prisoner, and the head of a local pro-democracy NGO, the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDC). Police also arrested Imran Aliyev, pro-democracy activist and founder of meclis.info, a website that documents statements by Azerbaijani lawmakers. Both were accused of bogus smuggling charges and sentenced to pretrial detention which has been extended several times.
In August 2024, additional charges were leveled against the team of Abzas Media, a content partner of Global Voices. The detained journalists are potentially facing twelve-year jail sentences.
“This is not just another routine silencing. It is a calculated assault on anyone who dares to stand against the authoritarian grip of the regime,” read an essay by Feminist Peace Collective.
The government has employed wide-scale crackdowns before and regularly arrests government critics. This is one of the factors that helped the incumbent president recently secure victory in a snap presidential election. As such, the recent erasure of civil dissent ahead of COP29 is an attempt to polish its standing on the international stage, but also a mission to stamp out critics ahead of the snap parliamentary election scheduled for September 1.
