Baku: When a young peace activist was jailed for 15 years for high treason in Azerbaijan last month, his friends directed their anger primarily at the European Union, rather than the government that incarcerated him. Bahruz Samadov, a 30-year-old PhD student, is facing one of the harshest sentences ever given to a critic of President Ilham Aliyev's 21-year rule. Samadov denies the charge, calling it fabricated.
According to BBC, the EU's relationship with Azerbaijan has come under scrutiny as critics argue that Europe's need to secure alternative energy sources to Russian gas has led to leniency towards Azerbaijan's human rights record. The EU "may keep flirting with Baku, but silence has its cost," one critic complained. This sentiment was echoed when EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas visited Baku in April, facing heavy criticism for emphasizing the "great potential" for EU-Azerbaijan ties while at least 21 leading journalists were detained in the Azerbaijani capital.
President Aliyev has defended the arrest of journalists by claiming it is necessary to shield the media from "external negative influences," accusing them of "illegally receiving funding from abroad." He has also accused international organizations of interfering in domestic politics, leading to the closure of the Baku offices of the UN, the International Red Cross Committee, and the BBC.
The EU's approach has effectively given Aliyev "a free hand," says Eldar Mamedov, a former Latvian diplomat and foreign policy adviser to the European Parliament's Social Democrat group. "The repression, arrests of dissidents, bloggers, and opposition voices have long strained Baku-Brussels relations," he told the BBC. However, since Russia's aggression in Ukraine, these issues have been sidelined.
While the European Union denies these allegations, a spokesperson expressed the EU's concern over the "shrinking civic space in Azerbaijan" and called on Baku to "release all those arbitrarily detained for exercising their fundamental rights." The spokesperson added that the EU has consistently raised these concerns at all levels, including during Kallas's visit to Baku.
Europe's energy dependency has complicated its stance on Azerbaijan. While Azerbaijan only accounts for 4.3% of EU natural gas imports, its share is significantly higher in countries connected to the Southern Gas Corridor pipeline. For example, up to 40% of Bulgaria's natural gas imports come from Azerbaijan, with Italy and Greece relying on it for 15% of their imports. This makes it challenging for the EU to present a unified front, according to a senior European diplomat who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity.
Though Europe will not face an energy crisis without Azerbaijani gas, the EU's strategy is to diversify its gas sources to reduce reliance on Russia. "While it is not reliant on Azeri gas, it would like to have more from Azerbaijan," said Benjamin Godwin, a risk analyst specializing in the Caucasus and Central Asia. The EU spokesperson reiterated that this energy partnership "does not change our stance on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan."
Aliyev offers Europe more than just gas. He has supported Ukraine's territorial integrity against Russia's invasion, a rare stance among ex-Soviet states seen as Kremlin allies. Although Azerbaijan has not imposed sanctions on Russia, it has provided humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Recent tensions with Moscow have also strained Baku's relations with Russia, especially following the downing of an Azerbaijani Airlines plane by a Russian missile and the deaths of Azerbaijani men in Russian police custody.
Despite these geopolitical dynamics, the EU has remained silent over Bahruz Samadov's jail term for treason, although his friends report that he recently attempted to take his life, raising fears for his safety. The EU's diplomatic service expressed concern over the jailing of seven Azerbaijani investigative journalists last month, calling it a "worrying development" and urging "immediate steps to ensure a safe and enabling environment for all journalists."