Georgian courts ‘unlawfully’ leave journalist Afgan Sadigov in pre-extradition detention

• 4 min read

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The local rights group Social Justice Centre (SJC) has stated that despite the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) prohibiting Georgia from extraditing Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadigov to Azerbaijan until a final decision is made on the case, the general courts of Georgia have left him ‘unlawfully in extradition detention’.

On Thursday, the SJC stated that the organisation had filed a petition with the Tbilisi City Court on 11 March requesting the cancellation of the extradition detention imposed on Sadigov. They added that in response, the court declared the petition inadmissible without an oral hearing.

According to the SJC, the Tbilisi City Court’s ruling was upheld by the Investigative Panel of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal, which ruled on Monday that the defence had failed to substantiate why the suspension or possible ban on extradition necessitated the cancellation of the selected preventive measure while there was an assumption that Sadigov was ‘fugitive from justice’.

‘The decisions of the common courts are clearly unfounded and illegal’, the statement read.

In the beginning of March, the ECHR banned Sadigov’s extradition. At the time, the SJC noted that the ECHR’s final ruling on the case ‘could take years’.

Journalist’s wife, Sevinj Sadigova told OC Media that the fact that he is currently in prison ‘is illegal’.

‘This decision did not surprise me, because in reality the regime in Georgia very actively protects and supports the regime [of Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev’, she said. ‘Aliyev did not leave a single journalist or activist free [in Azerbaijan]. The Aliyev regime does not give Afgan freedom, and in Georgia the regime continues to [also refuse Sadigov freedom]’.

‘I know that we will win the case [in the ECHR], because my husband is not a criminal’.

Sadigov, the head of the Azerbaijani news outlet and YouTube channel Azel.tv, was detained pending an extradition trial in early August 2024.

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 Tbilisi Airport from exiting Georgia.

Sadigov began a hunger strike in September 2024 in protest against his detention, which lasted 161 days.

According to the SJC, since Sadigov’s extradition could no longer be carried out based on the ECHR’s decision and the final term of extradition detention expires on 3 May, ‘it was necessary to cancel the extradition detention applied to him or replace the detention with another, less restrictive preventive measure (bail)’.

‘During this period, the European Court will not be able to make a final and substantive decision on his extradition’, they said, giving several examples of court cases when the ECHR took from four to eight years to make a final decision.

‘Unfortunately, the above-mentioned ruling of the Tbilisi City Court was upheld by the Investigation Panel of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal and, in its ruling [...] indicated that the European Court’s decision does not constitute a new circumstance that could affect the selected preventive measure’, the SJC said.

The SJC further noted that none of the courts have considered the appropriateness and usefulness of continuing pre-trial detention, nor the necessity of using or maintaining pre-trial detention as a mechanism for ensuring extradition if the purpose of extradition cannot be practically fulfilled before the expiration of the pre-trial detention period.

‘In addition, the courts have not considered whether keeping Afgan Sadigov in custody would result in a gross, unjustified and disproportionate violation of his right to liberty and security’, the SJC stated.

According to them, in their full application to the ECHR regarding Sadigov’s case, the organisation also disputed the ‘above-mentioned illegal decisions to keep him in extradition detention’.

A renewed crackdown on journalism in Azerbaijan began in November 2023, with at least 10 journalists currently in prison in what is recognised by international rights and media organisations as political persecution.