Campaign

We are an international coalition of organizations, educational institutions, politicians, scholars, and activists mobilized to challenge the unlawful imprisonment of Bahruz Samadov and the broader criminalization of peaceful dissent in Azerbaijan. Our network brings together Heinrich Boell Foundation (Germany), Charles University Faculty of Social Sciences (Czechia), Scholars at Risk (United States), Other Space Foundation (Poland), and the Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund (Norway), alongside parliamentarians, academicians and activists working on human rights, conflict studies, and authoritarianism.

This campaign coordinates public communication, international advocacy, and diplomatic engagement to ensure that Samadov’s case cannot be buried or distorted by state propaganda. This website serves as a unified platform for sharing updates, news, statements, and information about how you can take action.

Our goal is straightforward: to secure the immediate and unconditional release of Bahruz Samadov and to expose the misuse of treason charges as a tool of political repression. But the campaign also serves a broader purpose: defending academic freedom, protecting civil society, and insisting that peace advocacy must not be treated as a crime. What is at stake is not only one scholar’s freedom, but the right of Azerbaijanis — and all people living under repressive regimes — to think, debate, and dissent without fear of imprisonment.