Azerbaijani Researcher Who Criticized Aliyev and Advocated Peace With Armenia Risks Going Blind While Serving 15-Year Prison Sentence

Thirty-one-year-old Azerbaijani researcher and peace advocate Bahruz Samadov is suffering from serious vision problems that are worsening in the maximum-security prison where he is serving a 15-year sentence on treason charges after criticizing President Ilham Aliyev’s government and advocating for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, according to his lawyer.

Samadov, a researcher and contributor to OC Media who had publicly advocated for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia before his detention, is being held at the Umbaki prison outside Baku. Azerbaijani authorities detained him in August 2024 and accused him of cooperating with Armenian intelligence. He was convicted of treason and sentenced to 15 years in prison the following year.

His lawyer, Zibeyda Sadigova, told OC Media that a prison doctor had examined Samadov and warned that his eyesight would continue to deteriorate under his current conditions.

“The prison doctor examined him and stated that he has serious vision problems,” Sadigova said. “The doctor also noted that, under these conditions, his eyesight would continue to deteriorate.”

Sadigova said she has appealed to Azerbaijani state agencies for medical treatment for Samadov. He has previously said prison officials denied him access to medication that could help his condition.

Moving Samadov to the prison’s medical facility would not necessarily solve the problem, Sadigova said. According to his lawyer, the prison doctor told her that Samadov would remain in isolation even if transferred for treatment, leaving him in conditions that could continue to damage his eyesight.

“Given his vision problems, he should not be kept in isolation — yet we have no other choice; Samadov needs treatment,” Sadigova said. “We do not know how this will play out.”

Friends and supporters have also called for urgent medical care. Azerbaijani civil rights activist Rustam Ismailbeyli said Samadov’s already poor eyesight had deteriorated to the point of “near-total blindness” while he was being held in a small, dark cell.

Sadigova said Samadov is allowed onto a small balcony connected to his cell for one hour a day but has no other access to outdoor exercise. The balcony is enclosed on all sides, with only its barred roof open to the outside.

Concerns over his eyesight predate his imprisonment.

Samadov’s 83-year-old grandmother, Zibeyda Osmanova, his only living relative, told OC Media that his eyesight had been poor enough to exempt him from military service.

“He wasn’t accepted because of his very poor eyesight,” Osmanova said. “But now they’ve taken him and put him in this enclosed space. It’s terrifying to even imagine what is happening to him there.”

Osmanova said her grandson is being held with another prisoner in a cell measuring about 6 square meters, or 65 square feet. She described the cell as dark and without a window and said he is not taken outside for exercise.

She has sent him books and the glasses he wore before his detention, but said his eyesight has deteriorated to the point that the glasses no longer provide enough help.

“I know he’s hiding a lot from me,” Osmanova said. “When I ask if he’s sick, he replies, ‘Grandma, I’m fine; I’m okay.’ But I can tell from his voice that isn’t the case.”

Samadov has told his grandmother that he can no longer see well at a distance and wants to be transferred to the prison’s medical facility.

Osmanova last saw him seven months ago, separated by a glass partition. Open visits are not permitted at Umbaki. Her own health problems, including high blood pressure, neuralgia and difficulty walking, have made the trip increasingly difficult.

For Osmanova, the case against her grandson remains difficult to understand.

“Is it because he is intelligent and educated, or because he wants peace?” she said.

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