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 said that Sadigov’s life would be in danger if he is forced to return to Azerbaijan.
There have been protests against the proposed extradition in Georgia.
Sadigov has been on a hunger strike for 69 days in his own form of protest, and he was brought into court in a wheelchair.
[Read more: Demonstration in Tbilisi against extradition of Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadigov]
Sadigov, the editor-in-chief of the Azerbaijani media Azel.TV, was originally arrested in Tbilisi on 3 August. He arrived with his family in Georgia in December 2023 and was going to leave the country two weeks before his arrest, but was not allowed to do so at the airport.
