The Georgian Interior Ministry arrested Azerbaijani national and human rights activist Avtandil Mammadov today and reported he was wanted by the Azerbaijani police.
Mammadov, born in 1983 was detained on charges of fraud. He was arrested in Marneuli, in the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia.
Mammadov was charged on May 17, 2017 in Azerbaijan for repeated fraud and was sentenced to imprisonment in absentia on May 24, 2018.
To note, Mammadov lived in Georgia for the past several months with his family and asked to be provided with asylum but Georgian authorities rejected the request.
The asylum seeker appealed the decision and court proceedings are underway,” the Interior Ministry reports.
The ministry reports that Mammadov is considered an asylum-seeker in Georgia and cannot be extradited or expelled until the ministry provides him with protection or the court delivers verdict.
Azerbaijani journalist, Afgan Mukhtarli vanished from Tbilisi on May 29, 2017 and resurfaced in custody in Baku on the following day.
Avtandil Mammadov protested the abduction of Afgan Mukhtarli from Georgia at the protest rally in Tbilisi.