▲Afgan Sadigov in court in Tbilisi. Photo: Mindia Gabadadze/Publika.
The Georgian civil rights group Social Justice Centre (SJC) has stated that on 14 January, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a decision to temporarily bar Georgia from extraditing Afgan Sadigov, an Azerbaijani journalist who has been in custody in Gldani prison in Tbilisi since 4 August, to Azerbaijan.
The announcement followed Wednesday’s decision by the Tbilisi Court of Appeals to reject Sadigov’s appeal, in which he requested Georgia to grant him refugee or humanitarian status. The temporary injunction is expected to last for seven days, during which the SJC expects the ECHR to announce a secondary decision to more permanently halt any extradition decisions until the ECHR makes a final decision in Sadigov’s case against Azerbaijan.
According to the SJC, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals ‘was the last instance that could protect the rights of the persecuted journalist and editor and stop his extradition’.
‘With this, the consideration of Afgan Sadigov’s case by the national courts of Georgia was completed’, the organisation stated. ‘Unfortunately, they did not have the necessary independence and integrity that would have made it possible to protect the absolute rights of the persecuted journalist’.
Without protected status in Georgia, Sadigov faces extradition to Azerbaijan, where he was previously detained several times on charges he has refuted and said were politically motivated.
His wife, Sevinj Sadigova, has said that Sadigov’s life would be in danger if he was forced to return to Azerbaijan.
Sadigova told OC Media that ‘[Georgian Dream and the Georgian courts] destroyed the law, the Georgian court under the regime of [Georgian Dream founder] Bidzina Ivanishvili does what the regime of [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev orders it to do’.
‘Afgan is in a very bad state [...] his health is very bad [...]. They are not only killing Afgan, they are killing the lives of his family, his children — Aliyev destroyed our lives and it is a pity that the Ivanishvili regime accepted this political order’, she said.
According to the SJC, the organisation appealed to the ECHR twice, once on 9 December 2024 and again on 10 January, to request the use of an interim measure and the suspension of the extradition of Sadigov to Azerbaijan.
‘This mechanism is used in cases where there is a high and irreversible risk of the violation of rights and it is necessary to suspend the actions of states’ contrary to the Convention’, the SJC’s statement read. It did not specify which convention the SJC was referring to.
According to the SJC, the ECHR satisfied the request, and on Tuesday, issued an interim decision in which it indicated to the Georgian authorities that, in the interests of the parties and the proper conduct of the proceedings before it, Sadigov should not be extradited to Azerbaijan until at least seven days have passed following the decision by the Tbilisi Court of Appeals.
‘This decision on the application of an interim measure is an interim decision of the European Court of Justice, since the consideration of the case at the level of national courts had not yet been completed’.
‘The European Court of Human Rights did not encroach on the competence of national courts and waited for the exhaustion of legal protection mechanisms at the national level. The ECHR will take a final decision on this case only after the final decision of the national courts’, the SJC’s statement read.
Mariam Kvelashvili, a lawyer for the SJC, told OC Media that the seven-day countdown began after the Tbilisi Court of Appeals made its decision in the Sadigov case on Wednesday.
‘Since it was a force majeure situation, after the [Tbilisi] Court of Appeals’ decision, the Minister of Justice can issue a decision on extradition on the same day and extradite the person on the same day, the [ECHR] made this decision in the form of an interim act’, Kvelashvili explained.
‘During this period, the [ECHR] will already evaluate the appeal decision, among other things, and we expect that a final decision will be made that will prevent the Afgan from being extradited in the future’, Kvelashvili said.
According to her explanation, usually when the ECHR adopts this interim act, it is followed by a decision that already states that until the ECHR finally considers the case, this person should not be extradited.
‘As you know, [cases in the ECHR] are considered for four to five years, and during this period, no extradition should take place’, Kvelashvili said.
OC Media reached out to the ECHR for comment on Sadigov’s case but did not receive an answer. Sadigov, the head of the Azerbaijani news outlet and YouTube channel Azel.TV, was originally detained in Tbilisi on 3 August. He had been living in Georgia with his family since December 2023 and had planned to leave the country two weeks before his arrest, but was barred by immigration officers at the airport from exiting Georgia.
The Tbilisi City Court ruled on Thursday to approve the extradition of Afgan Sadigov, an Azerbaijani journalist who has been in custody in Gldani prison in Tbilisi since 4 August.
Sadigov’s lawyers will still have seven days to appeal the decision, and the case may be brought before the Supreme Court.
Should all final appeals fail, Sadigov will be extradited back to Azerbaijan, where he was arrested several times on charges he refuted and said were politically motivated. His wife has sa
Detained Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadigov has been transferred to a prison hospital in Georgia on his 17th day of hunger strike.
Sadigov has been in extradition custody in Gldani prison in Tbilisi since 4 August.
Sadigova told Netgazeti on Tuesday that she was informed about her husband’s transfer to the hospital late Monday night.
‘I asked [to] talk to my husband, so I could hear his voice’, she said, adding that she was denied permission. ‘They called me late at night, but I don’
A demonstration was held in front of the Government Chancellery of Georgia in support of Afgan Sadigov, an Azerbaijani journalist who has been detained in Georgia while awaiting a court decision regarding extradition to Azerbaijan.
On Tuesday, around two dozen local journalists and activists, together with Afgan Sadigov’s wife and two children, gathered to show solidarity and demand Sadigov’s release.
Sadigov, the head of the Azerbaijani news outlet and YouTube channel Azel.TV, was originall
Georgian authorities have detained Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadigov and have scheduled a hearing for his extradition.
Sadigov, the head of the independent Azerbaijani news outlet and YouTube channel Azel.TV, was detained on Saturday, less than a month after he was barred from leaving Georgia unless he travels to Azerbaijan.
Sadigov had been living in Georgia with his family since December 2023.
[Read more: Azerbaijani journalist ‘barred from leaving Georgia’]
His wife, Sevinj Sadig
