Tbilisi Court of Appeal does not satisfy Afgan Sadygov' appeal

On 15 August, the Tbilisi Court of Appeal rejected an appeal against the arrest of Afgan Sadygov, founder of the "AzelTV news" website.

The court upheld the sentence handed down by the Tbilisi city court on 4 August, the NGO "Georgia Rights" reported.

‘We consider the decision of the Court of Appeal to be unlawful and unjustified, namely the Court's refusal to grant international asylum in Georgia,’ it said. "Granting asylum in Georgia would have stopped the extradition process to Azerbaijan," the statement said.

The organisation's lawyers demanded to cancel the decision to arrest Afgan Sadygov for 3 months for extradition and offered a bail of GEL 2,000 as an alternative.

Afgan Sadygov's application requesting international asylum in Georgia was attached to the statement.

It should be recalled that Sadygov was arrested on 3 August by the police in Tbilisi and is being held in correctional facility No. 8 in Gldani.

Mote that Afgan Sadygov was arrested at the request of the Azerbaijani side. He is charged with committing an offence under Articles 188.2.2 and 182.2.4 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan - ‘extortion by threat, taking property on a large scale, threatening to spread insulting statements’.

Before his arrest, Sadygov tried to leave Tbilisi for Turkey. Border guards told him that his wife and children could leave, but Afgan Sadygov could only return to Azerbaijan.

The case against Afgan Sadygov in Azerbaijan was launched on May 9, 2024, and on May 13, the Azerbaijani side appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Interior Ministry of Georgia," the human rights organization reports.