Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadygov, who lives in Georgia and heads the Azel TV website, has been arrested again for seven days.

Afgan Sadygov (Azel TV head)

His wife, Sevinj Sadygova, shared this on her Facebook page. The reason given for his arrest is that he repeatedly blocked a road.

Sadygov had been arrested before for 14 days and fined a total of 270,000 Lari (about 170,000 Manats) for blocking the road 54 times. He was released on November 5.

Sadygov, who is Azel TV's founder and editor-in-chief, was detained in Azerbaijan on November 22, 2016. He was charged with intentionally causing less serious harm to health with hooligan intent using a dangerous method. On January 12, 2017, the Jalilabad District Court gave him a 2.5-year prison sentence. In November of the same year, the Supreme Court lowered his sentence from 2.5 years to 1.5 years. He was released on May 23, 2018.

Later, on May 13, 2020, Sadygov was detained again, and the Binagadi District Court of Baku ordered his arrest. On November 3, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes found him guilty of getting money by threat and gave him a 7-year prison sentence. On January 28, 2021, the Sumgayit Court of Appeal changed the sentence, reducing it from 7 years to 6 years. He was released by a pardon in 2022.

Sadygov moved to Georgia in 2023. In August 2024, he was detained there for extradition because Azerbaijan wanted him back. Azerbaijani authorities charged him with extortion and misappropriation of property, saying he threatened to spread insulting information. On February 28, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said that Sadygov could not be sent back to Azerbaijan until the ECHR had a chance to fully review the case.

On April 16, 2025, after about eight months in detention, he was released on bail of 5,000 Lari (3,000 Manats).

Sadygov, who leads the AzelTV YouTube channel, has now been detained administratively again in Georgia.

His wife said that at a court hearing in Tbilisi on November 12, he was charged with illegally blocking a road. The court decided to detain him for seven days.

He was previously detained in Tbilisi on October 23 on the same charge and was punished with 14 days of arrest and a fine of 270,000 Lari (about 99,000 US Dollars).

Sevinj Sadygova told Abzas Media that the journalist had been fined 55 times but received no warning from the police. He only found out about the fines when he was taken to court.

According to his wife, after Sadygov was released from his 14-day detention, he was told to come back to court on November 12 for the same charge.

She added that there are three court proceedings planned for this case, and the one on November 12 was the second.

Since the charge is the same, they could have been reviewed together. Before this, they gave 14 days, and now they gave 7 days. I don't know what will happen after he gets out. It's unclear what will happen. They have already made a habit of this. They make decisions however they want, she said.

Sadygov moved to Georgia with his family in December 2023. In July of last year, he said that he was not allowed to travel from Georgia to Turkey. On August 3, 2024, he was detained in Tbilisi because Azerbaijani law enforcement wanted him.

Azerbaijan accused him of extortion and wanted him extradited. However, Georgia refused to give him political asylum. On November 28, 2024, the Tbilisi City Court said he should be handed over to Azerbaijan, but this did not happen.

Sadygov has said that the charges are politically motivated and made up. He was released on bail of 5,000 Lari (about 3,000 Manats) on April 16, 2025, after being detained for about eight months.