According to the Social Justice Center, which represents Azerbaijani journalist Afqan Sadigov, he was fined a total of 275,000 lari for blocking a roadway, without any prior notification.
On October 23, 2025, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Sadigov to 14 days of administrative detention for blocking a street.
Following this court decision, it was revealed that Sadigov had been fined an additional 55 times, each for 5,000 lari, also for blocking the street. These fines were issued between July 29 and October 17, 2025, but he was not informed of them during that period, according to case documents.
The Social Justice Center has already appealed these fines at the Tbilisi City Court.
“This situation clearly demonstrates a high risk that the Georgian Dream party is using its repressive mechanisms against Afqan Sadigov a journalist who has been subject to aggressive legal persecution and harassment in Georgia for over a year. The combination of the court-imposed sentence and dozens of fines appears intended to set an example for an activist actively participating in protests. This also intersects with the interests of the Azerbaijani authorities, who for months demanded Sadigov’s extradition to Baku, a process halted only by a European court decision,” the organization said in a statement released on November 4, 2025.
Sadigov is currently serving administrative detention. He was arrested on October 22 and sentenced to 14 days in detention for blocking Rustaveli Avenue.
“I visited Afqan Sadigov at the Marneuli detention center today. He is doing well. His first question, understandably, was whether the Rustaveli protest was taking place and whether the avenue was closed,” wrote his lawyer Aykhan Hasanli on Facebook after meeting him.
Background: Sadigov was first detained in Tbilisi on August 3, 2024. Georgian authorities stated that he was wanted in connection with alleged threats and extortion-related offenses under Azerbaijani law. His family, human rights organizations, and independent media linked his detention to political persecution by Ilham Aliyev’s government.
On April 17, 2025, after nearly nine months in detention and 161 days of hunger strike, Sadigov was released on bail. The prosecution and court did not grant him permission to leave the country.