Azerbaijani journalist Mukhtarli, who vanished from Tbilisi in 2017, may return to Georgia to give testimony
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Azerbaijani journalist Afghan Mukhtarli, who was released from Azerbaijani prison earlier this year and now lives in Germany, has plans to return to Georgia to testify to the country’s Prosecutor’s Office about his disappearance from Tbilisi back in 2017.
Mukhtarli told Netgazeti that he has plans to come to Tbilisi soon, adding that he loves the country as it is his second homeland.
Mukhtarli and his family went into exile in Georgia in 2015 amid fears for their safety over Mukhtarli’s investigations into Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s alleged links to corruption.
He was reported missing by his wife in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on the evening of May 29, 2017.
The next morning, on May 30, regional media reported that Mukhtarli ended up in the custody of the investigative unit of the State Border Service of Azerbaijan.
Since then Georgia had been investigating the case as an alleged ‘unlawful imprisonment’ of the journalist, who was charged with illegally crossing the border and smuggling in Azerbaijan.
Mukhtarli was sentenced to six years in prison but was released In March 2020.
He has accused Georgia’s law enforcement agencies of helping Azerbaijan to ‘abduct him.’
Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, who vanished from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on May 29, 2017 and resurfaced in custody in Baku the next day, has been released from prison. OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir welcomed the news on Twitter.
Georgia’s Interior Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili announced at today’s special briefing that he had dismissed the head of Georgia’s Border Police and a chief of the Counter Intelligence Agency in relation with Azeri journalist Afghan Mukhtarli, who vanished from Tbilisi on May 29 and resurfaced in custody in Baku the next day.
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on the case of Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli who vanished from Tbilisi on May 29 and resurfaced in custody in Baku the next day.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into the " alleged unlawful imprisonment” of an Azerbaijani journalist who vanished on Monday from Tbilisi and resurfaced on Tuesday in custody in Baku.
Mukhtarli, who was released from Azerbaijani prison earlier this year now lives in Germany with his family and claims that Georgian law enforcers helped their Azerbaijani colleagues in his abduction three years ago.
Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, who was abducted by unidentified individuals from Tbilisi on May 29, 2017 and surfaced in an Azerbaijani prison several days later, has been granted victim’s status, reports human rights organisation Rights Georgia.
Azerbaijani blogger Hussein Bakikhanov, who was critical of the Azerbaijani government and was asking asylum in Georgia, was found dead in Tbilisi, Bakikhanov’s friend Avtandil Mamedov and Azerbaijani journalist and activist Afghan Mukhtarli have confirmed.