EGN NEWS DESK
Samadov was detained earlier this week and appeared Friday earlier than a court docket in Baku to be charged with “treason.” If convicted, he may face life in jail, and has reportedly said 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 world 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 providers,” he added.
According to Samadov’s household, he was arrested when safety providers raided their dwelling on Wednesday. The 28-year-old had been essential of Azerbaijan’s authoritarian authorities and sought to construct bridges with activists in neighboring Armenia, with which Baku fought a struggle in 2020.
Freedom House has warned Azerbaijan lacks an unbiased judiciary, which “is clear within the many trumped-up or in any other case flawed circumstances introduced towards opposition figures, activists, and demanding journalists.” Dozens of civil society figures have confronted disputed costs in current months.
