Arzu Mammadov

Arzu Mammadov (Sayadoğlu) is a blogger who maintains a YouTube channel that is critical of the Azerbaijani government.

In August 2023, a video was recorded showing several local government employees cleaning a municipal building ahead of a visit by the Minister of Culture. Allegedly, any employees who refused to clean were threatened with dismissal. In January 2024, the video was released. At the time a local government official claimed that Mammadov had threatened to release the video for months unless the official paid Mammadov approximately $3,600.

On January 16, 2024, authorities arrested Mammadov. He was subsequently charged with extortion and sentenced to seven years in prison in March 2025.

Mammadov denied all allegations and claimed that not only was the video broadcast elsewhere first, but he did not even make the video as he was not in the town where the visit took place.