Europe accused of going soft on Azerbaijan to avoid buying Russian gas

Critics say EU policy has given Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev a free hand during his crackdown on opponents.

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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. He rejects the charge as fabricated.

The EU "may keep flirting with Baku, but silence has its cost", one critic complained.

Shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared Azerbaijan a "key partner" in EU efforts to move away from Russian natural gas.

In that time, Aliyev has re-established control of the breakaway Karabakh region, causing an exodus of its entire Armenian population; he has also secured a fifth consecutive term in an election widely criticised by monitors, and cracked down on opposition and press freedom.