Afgan Sadygov has been sent to pretrial detention on reopened criminal charges.
The Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan has reopened a previously dismissed criminal case against Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadigov. The court ordered his pretrial detention, and his defense intends to appeal the decision.
As reported by the Caucasian Knot, at the end of May, security forces prevented Afgan Sadigov from leaving Baku. The journalist's wife expressed concern that Azerbaijani authorities plan to reopen his criminal prosecution. On June 8, Sevinj Sadigova reported that her husband had been abducted by unidentified masked men in civilian clothes.
On February 28, 2025, the ECHR banned Afgan Sadigov's extradition from Georgia to Azerbaijan pending a decision on the merits of the case. However, on April 1, Azerbaijan suspended the criminal prosecution against Sadigov and notified Georgia, and on April 4, Sadigov was detained in Tbilisi on administrative charges. The following day, he was deported from the country and handed over to Azerbaijan's Migration Service. Thus, security officials found a formal way to circumvent the ECHR's ban on Sadigov's extradition. In Azerbaijan, the journalist was notified that the criminal case against him had been dropped, and released..
Afgan Sadigov's detention on June 8 was due to the resumption of previously terminated criminal proceedings against him by decision of the Prosecutor General's Office, the journalist's lawyer, Nemat Kerimli, told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
"In 2024, a criminal case for extortion was opened against Afgan Sadigov. At the time, he was in Georgia, and the Azerbaijani prosecutor's office requested extradition from that country's authorities, but the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Georgian authorities not to extradite Afgan Sadigov to Azerbaijan until his complaint had been examined on the merits. In May, the Azerbaijani side notified Georgia of the termination of the criminal case, which served as the basis for his deportation to Azerbaijan." - the lawyer said.
According to Kerimli, the people recognized as victims in this criminal case appealed the decision to dismiss the case to the Binagadi District Court, and on June 8, the court upheld their appeal. Sadigov was detained on the afternoon of June 8 at the home of his relatives in the Jalilabad district and taken to Baku.
“The Binagadi District Court of Baku returned the case to the investigative body for re-investigation and on the same day, June 8, chose a preventive measure in the form of arrest for Afgan Sadigov until July 30,” Kerimli said.
He noted that in 2024, a criminal case against A. Sadigov was opened based on complaints from two local government officials in the Neftchala district, and the head of a medical facility in the city of Sumgait subsequently joined them. They claimed that Sadigov allegedly extorted money from them.
The lawyer declined to comment further, citing confidentiality obligations regarding the investigation. He noted that he has not yet had a separate confidential meeting with Sadigov.
Nemat Kerimli added that the defense will appeal Afgan Sadigov's arrest. Caucasian Knot was unable to obtain comment from the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office regarding the criminal case against the journalist.
In August 2024, Afgan Sadigov's wife called the charges brought against her husband in Azerbaijan false. "How was Afghan able to commit this 'crime' if he's been in Georgia since the end of December last year (2023)? The Azerbaijani authorities were simply worried that Afghan would leave Georgia for a third country, and hastily fabricated a criminal case. He's being punished for speaking out about injustice, tyranny, and lawlessness. Afghan wasn't silent in Georgia either; he continued criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities on social media," Sevinj Sadigova said in a broadcast on her Facebook page*.