(Berlin, April 10, 2026) – Georgian authorities forcibly returned an exiled Azerbaijani journalist, Afgan Sadigov, to Azerbaijan, exposing him to a credible risk of politically motivated prosecution and ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch said today.
The authorities deported him without a meaningful assessment of these risks in proceedings that raise serious due process concerns. Their actions call into question the good faith of both governments with respect to their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
“This deportation should not have happened, and how it happened is particularly disturbing,” said Giorgi Gogia, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Georgian authorities returned Sadigov to a country where he faces a real risk of persecution, without properly assessing that risk and in summary proceedings that raise serious fairness concerns.”
Sadigov, editor-in-chief of Azel.tv, a media platform reporting on crime and alleged government corruption in Azerbaijan, had been living in Georgia since December 2023, where he continued his journalistic work. Since 2016, Sadigov has faced multiple charges in Azerbaijan, including two criminal cases widely viewed as retaliation for his reporting. In November 2020, a court in Baku sentenced him to seven years in prison on dubious extortion charges. He was released early in 2022, following a pardon.
On August 3, 2024, Georgian authorities detained Sadigov with a view to extraditing him to Azerbaijan after the authorities there brought new charges. He spent more than seven months in detention. Sadigov sought international protection in Georgia, but authorities rejected his asylum claim and subsequent appeals despite his well-founded fears of persecution in Azerbaijan.
In January 2025, Sadigov filed a case with the European Court of Human Rights on the basis that his extradition to Azerbaijan would violate the European Convention on Human Rights. On February 28, 2025, the court issued an interim measure, an extension of one that had been initially granted in January, ordering Georgia not to extradite Sadigov pending completion of its review of the case. Tbilisi City Court released him on bail on April 16, 2025.
Following his release, Sadigov participated in protests in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi. Courts fined him dozens of times for alleged administrative offenses related to obstructing traffic during assemblies, imposing cumulative fines totaling 275,000 lari (approximately US$102,000). The authorities also sentenced him to detention twice, for 14 and 7 days, for administrative offenses. In January 2026, a judge referred him for potential criminal investigation under recently adopted amendments criminalizing repeated administrative offenses.
Events escalated rapidly early this month. On April 1, Azerbaijani authorities discontinued criminal proceedings against Sadigov and notified the Georgian authorities. On April 3, a Georgian court lifted his bail and movement restrictions. Late on April 4, police arrested Sadigov at his home. Sevinc Sadigova, his wife, told media that officers forcibly entered the apartment and removed him without providing a clear explanation.
Shortly after midnight on April 5, police stated that Sadigov had been detained for allegedly insulting a police officer on social media. At approximately 4 a.m., Tbilisi City Court found him guilty, fined him 2,000 lari (approximately $745), ordered his expulsion to Azerbaijan, and imposed a three-year entry ban. Georgian authorities transferred him to Azerbaijan later that day.
Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs sought to justify the expulsion by citing Sadigov’s alleged involvement in multiple administrative offenses and unspecified “security-related concerns” communicated by Azerbaijani counterparts. The ministry contended that the European Court’s interim measure applied only to extradition in the context of criminal proceedings, which Azerbaijan had discontinued.
However, the Social Justice Center, which represents Sadigov, said that interim measures are binding and remain in force unless and until they are lifted by the court itself. Both Azerbaijan and Georgia are parties to the European Convention on Human Rights and are legally bound to respect the court’s decisions.
Sadigov’s lawyer said that the Georgian court, sitting in the middle of the night, rejected all defense motions, including those based on the interim measure, and failed to consider less restrictive alternatives, such as voluntary departure or seeking asylum in a third country. He was then deported.
In Azerbaijan, on April 6, law enforcement officials detained Sadigov without explanation and took him to a police station where they held him for approximately 40 minutes. He was later told that the purpose was to remove him from a wanted person’s database and to take his fingerprints, after which he was released.
Sadigov’s return is particularly concerning given a longstanding pattern of prosecution of journalists and government critics in Azerbaijan, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities have repeatedly used criminal and administrative charges to target journalists, activists, and political opponents, with critics frequently facing arrest, travel bans, and other forms of harassment.
The circumstances of Sadigov’s removal raise serious concerns that Georgian authorities acted in bad faith and colluded with Azerbaijani officials to circumvent their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. Council of Europe member states should investigate Georgia’s actions and ensure accountability for any breach of its obligations. These include the absolute prohibition on return to a risk of persecution, torture, or serious human rights violations (the non-refoulement principle), as well as guarantees of due process, the right to a fair hearing, an effective remedy, and compliance with interim measures.
Georgia should also investigate the circumstances of Sadigov’s deportation and ensure full compliance with its human rights obligations.
“There needs to be accountability for Georgian authorities’ apparent cooperation with Azerbaijan to engineer Sadigov’s removal despite clear risks to his safety, in defiance of their international human rights obligations,” Gogia said. “Azerbaijani authorities should guarantee Afgan Sadigov’s safety, that he will not be arbitrarily detained or prosecuted, and that he is free to exercise his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, including to leave his country.”
