Azerbaijani Journalist’s Extradition Case: Georgian Courts Disregard European Court Ruling.
Georgian courts have ignored a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling that said Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadygov should not be extradited to Azerbaijan. The Social Justice Center (SJC) reported this on March 20.
The ECtHR had ordered the suspension of Sadygov’s extradition pending a final decision on February 27. However, Georgian courts have continued to keep him in detention. The Tbilisi City Court refused to cancel his extradition detention and instead declared the SJC’s motion inadmissible.
The court said that the ECtHR’s decision only delayed extradition and did not require a change in Sadygov’s detention status. This ruling was upheld by the Investigative Panel of the Tbilisi Court of Appeals on March 17.
The SJC has called the courts’ decisions “unfounded” and contrary to national and international law. The organization plans to take the case to the ECtHR, disputing the “illegal decisions” that keep Sadygov in extradition detention.
Afgan Sadygov was arrested in Azerbaijan in 2020 on extortion charges and sentenced to seven years in prison. His sentence was later reduced to four years. He went on a hunger strike for 242 days and was released after two years.
Sadygov has been living in Georgia since December 2023, but was detained in August 2024 in Tbilisi. International organizations, including Amnesty International and the OSCE, have called on Georgia not to extradite him to Azerbaijan. The United States State Department also asked for his release.
The SJC will continue to represent Sadygov’s interests and provide updates on his case.
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