Samadov was detained earlier this week and appeared Friday earlier than a courtroom in Baku to be charged with “treason.” If convicted, he may face life in jail, and has reportedly acknowledged he intends to start a starvation strike after being handed 4 months of pre-trial detention.
Bahruz Samadov’s case:
4 months in safety measure, his case will go on for “treason”. He says he is harmless and struggles for international peace. pic.twitter.com/Gx45RZKW20
— Əməkdar Jurnalist (@NurlanLibre) August 23, 2024
“His case provides to the worrying and rising variety of detentions of unbiased journalists, human rights defenders and civil society representatives since late final yr,” mentioned Stano.
“We reiterate our name on Azerbaijan to launch all these detained for exercising their elementary rights. We additionally name on Azerbaijan to make sure transparency and due course of, in addition to dignified and secure circumstances for all these detained, together with their full entry to well being and unbiased authorized companies,” he added.
Based on Samadov’s household, he was arrested when safety companies raided their house on Wednesday. The 28-year-old had been crucial of Azerbaijan’s authoritarian authorities and sought to construct bridges with activists in neighboring Armenia, with which Baku fought a battle in 2020.
Freedom Home has warned Azerbaijan lacks an unbiased judiciary, which “is clear within the many trumped-up or in any other case flawed circumstances introduced in opposition to opposition figures, activists, and significant journalists.” Dozens of civil society figures have confronted disputed prices in current months.