Azerbaijani journalist held in Georgian custody loses 40 kg
During his hunger strike in a Georgian pretrial detention center, opposition Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadigov lost 40 kg, down to 56 kg. He is currently in extradition custody; his condition recently became extremely serious and he was unconscious for several hours. This was reported by the NGO “Center for Social Justice”.
Afgan Sadigov has been on hunger strike for 142 days. On February 2, he even refused to drink water. In this way, the journalist protests against the extension of his pretrial detention for another three months. Earlier, the ECHR issued a ruling prohibiting the Georgian authorities from extraditing the journalist to Azerbaijan.
In mid-January, the Tbilisi Court of Appeal dismissed Sadigov’s complaint. He tried to appeal the decision to extradite him to Azerbaijan. Human rights activists previously noted that by deporting Sadigov, Georgia would violate its obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Extradition would expose the journalist to a significant risk of torture and ill-treatment, given the recent rise in politically motivated arrests in Azerbaijan.
Afgan Sadigov, founder and editor-in-chief of the opposition Azerbaijani channel Azel TV, was arrested in Tbilisi on August 3 on a fabricated Interpol wanted list at the request of Baku. In May 2020, he was sentenced in Azerbaijan to seven years in prison on extortion charges. He was subsequently pardoned. Human rights activists called the criminal case a fabrication.
