Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Georgia on Monday, one day after Georgian authorities deported independent Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadigov to Azerbaijan, in a move that drew criticism from rights advocates and opposition figures in Tbilisi.
Aliyev, accompanied by Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva, held talks in Tbilisi with Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili and GPrime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze during a state visit focused on bilateral ties, regional security, trade, and transit projects.
The trip was overshadowed by Sadigov’s deportation, which followed a Tbilisi court ruling issued hours after he was arrested for allegedly insulting Georgian police online. OC Media reported that the arrest was cited as the formal basis for his removal from the country.
Sadigov had been fighting extradition efforts by Azerbaijan for nearly two years. In 2025, the European Court of Human Rights imposed interim measures blocking his extradition while the case was under review.
Sadigov, editor-in-chief of the independent YouTube channel Azel TV, fled to Georgia with his family in December 2023. He was detained on Saturday after a Facebook post criticizing Georgian police, then deported after a Georgian court fined him 2,000 lari and banned him from re-entering the country for three years.
The case had already been the subject of a lengthy extradition fight. Sadigov was arrested in Georgia in August 2024 on charges brought by Azerbaijani authorities. Although the European Court of Human Rights later issued an interim measure halting his extradition, Georgia argued that the ruling no longer applied after Azerbaijan reportedly dropped the original case. Sadigov’s lawyer rejected that reasoning, calling it a formal way of bypassing the court’s decision.
After arriving in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, Sadigov was briefly released, then re-detained by police before being freed again, according to a Facebook post by his wife, Sevinj Sadigova.
“Ivanishvili regime sold out Afgan Sadigov,” she wrote.
The deportation drew condemnation from media rights advocates. The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics said the case showed how “authoritarian governments can cooperate” to suppress critical journalists.
Despite the controversy, Aliyev and Kobakhidze publicly emphasized cooperation – including investment, energy transit, and development of the Middle Corridor linking the South Caucasus to wider trade routes.