Arzu Sayadoghlu Mammadov

Affiliated media: Blogger

Incident date: March 4, 2025

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: OC Media

Location: Azerbaijan, Baku

Additional information:

Azerbaijani blogger Arzu Sayadoghlu Mammadov, who criticised the government on his YouTube channel, has been sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of attempting to extort the director of a local district’s culture house. According to indictment, Mammadov was accused of attempting to extort $3,600 from the director of the Tovuz District Culture House, Asif Gasimov. When Gasimov allegedly failed to pay, Mammadov purportedly distributed a video showing a number of local government employees cleaning the streets and courtyards of a municipal building ahead of a visit from Azerbaijan’s Culture Minister Adil Karimli. Mammadov has consistently proclaimed his innocence, claiming that he had been arrested on a political order due to the government criticism he presented on his YouTube channel.