Azeri prisoner loses appeal, starts hunger strike

Imprisoned Azerbaijani researcher and OC Media contributor Bahruz Samadov has gone on hunger strike after losing an appeal to stop his transfer from Penitentiary N11 to the high-security Umbaki Correctional Prison. Samadov previously warned his removal to Umbaki could lead to his death through ‘someone else’s hands’.

Samadov was sentenced to 15 years in jail on charges of treason in June 2025, just a month before Armenia and Azerbaijan initialled a peace treaty.

The Baku Appeals Court rejected Samadov’s appeal against the move on Thursday. Activist Amrah Tahmazov stated on social media later that afternoon that none of the petitions Samadov had filed were approved.

‘The appeals court upheld the decision. Bahruz was sent to the closed, maximum-security prison in Umbaki’, Tahmazov confirmed.

The independent media outlet Toplum TV reported that during the hearings, Samadov had ‘requested a video recording of the trial, the questioning of the Public Defender’s staff, and an expert examination to assess his psychological state’, adding that ‘the court denied these motions’.

Speaking to OC Media, Samadov’s grandmother and only relative, 83-year-old Zibeyda Osmanova, noted that Samadov was also suffering from a skin disease and had requested to be transferred to the prison hospital. This request was also denied.

‘The judges only heard his motions and didn’t approve any of them. Bahruz was very nervous; he read out his demands, and the judges only carried out what they were ordered to do’, she said.

As soon as the judges made their decision, Samadov announced that he was starting an indefinite hunger strike.

Some foreign embassy representatives attended Samadov’s trial. As a result, he delivered some parts of his final speech in English, stressing that authoritarian regimes cannot bring peace while expressing the hope for peace for all.

On 31 January, Samadov addressed an appeal from prison to the leaders of democratic states, parties adhering to democratic principles, international organizations, progressive intellectuals, universities, academic communities, and the diplomatic corps of Western states accredited in Azerbaijan.

He highlighted the harsh conditions in Umbaki prison and noted that he would be deprived of communication with his grandmother and his lawyer.

‘This notorious closed prison [houses] the most dangerous criminals — the very fact they are sending me there is an alarming signal. I have legitimate concerns that the state plans to physically end my life using someone else’s hands’, he emphasised.

According to his grandmother, Samadov will now be transferred to the Umbaki prison on Saturday or the week after.

In December 2025, Samadov was temporarily transferred to the Umbaki prison, which is located 70 kilometres outside the capital. The reason for the transfer appears to have been due to Samadov’s repeated attempts to demand evidence and video recordings of court violations, after which he was put into solitary confinement in Penitentiary N11. Shortly afterwards, the prison administration filed a lawsuit against Samadov, claiming that he ‘fails to comply with the institution’s internal disciplinary rules and is accused of repeatedly violating these rules’, after which they demanded his transfer to Umbaki.