Eight organizations ask the Council of Europe Secretary General to look into the deportation of a journalist

Afgan Sadigov

A group of eight human rights groups recently reached out to Alain Berset, who serves as the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. They want him to step in quickly to stop Georgia from sending journalist Afgan Sadigov back to Azerbaijan.

In their request, they suggested using Article 52 of the European Convention on Human Rights. They also believe there should be a separate review of how Georgia handled this whole situation, along with putting a special representative in place for the South Caucasus region.

The organizations are asking member countries to step up and keep him safe. This means making sure he can actually be back with his family.

The appeal points out that this situation goes beyond just a single incident. It fits into a long pattern of harsh crackdowns over the past ten years that the Council of Europe has not really pushed back against very hard. Because of that weak response, officials in Azerbaijan feel more confident doing these things, and it essentially tells other member states they can get away with poor behavior too. How Georgia acted here shows exactly what happens when standards drop. Ultimately, people might stop trusting the European human rights system if things continue this way.

The paperwork mentions that local police in Azerbaijan brought him in for questioning on two separate occasions right after he was sent back.

Before all this, the journalist, who runs the Azel TV channel on YouTube, was picked up by authorities in Tbilisi back on August 3, 2024.

Back then, officials in Georgia said he was wanted in his home country because of extortion charges.

His relatives and various advocacy groups strongly felt he was arrested for political reasons. However, a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights on February 27 of last year actually told the Georgian government they were not allowed to extradite him.

Following that, a court in Tbilisi agreed to a request from the prosecutor. They let him out on bail instead of holding him for extradition, meaning he walked free on April 16 last year.

Things did not stay quiet for him though. He ended up getting hit with several fines by the Georgian state that added up to 270 thousand GEL just for showing up at local protests. On top of that, they held him in administrative detention for a couple of weeks.

Finally, authorities grabbed him again in Tbilisi during the night of April 5, 2026. They held him briefly and then sent him straight to Azerbaijan in a matter of hours.