Azerbaijani journalist Mukhtarli who vanished from Tbilisi in 2017 arrives in Georgia to testify
Afghan Mukhtarli greets supporters as he is taken to the court in Baku, Azerbaijan. May 31, 2017.Photo: Reuters/Aziz Karimov.
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Azerbaijani journalist Afghan Mukhtarli, who vanished from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on May 29, 2017 and resurfaced in custody in Baku the next day, has arrived in Georgia earlier today to testify to the country’s Prosecutor’s Office about his disappearance.
Mukhtakri claims that he was abducted from Tbilisi by Azerbaijani law enforcers with the help of their Georgian colleagues because of his investigative articles about Azerbaijani top figures, including President Ilham Aliyev and his family.
He is scheduled to hold a press conference at the Tbilisi Human Rights House at 11 a.m. tomorrow and after testify to the country’s Prosecutor’s Office.
Mukhtarli had plans to arrive in Georgia in October 2020. However, he was refused to board his flight from Germany to Tbilisi due to coronavirus restrictions.
The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office has not found out yet who abducted Mukhtarli and why from Tbilisi where he was living with his wife and a daughter since 2015 amid fears for their safety.
- Since 2017 Georgia has been investigating the case as an alleged ‘unlawful imprisonment’ of the journalist.
- In Baku Mukhtarli was charged with illegally crossing the border and smuggling in money following the abduction and was sentenced to six years in prison.
- However, following the international pressure, he was released in March 2020.
- Currently Mukhtarli lives in Germany with his family.
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.
Georgia has requested Azerbaijan to let Georgian investigators question Azerbaijani journalist, Afgan Mukhtarli, who vanished from Tbilisi on May 29 and resurfaced in custody in Baku the next day.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said the situation concerning Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli "undermines the country’s image, which is absolutely impermissible”.
Georgia’s Interior Minister held a special briefing today in which he strongly denied the involvement of Georgian law enforcers in the detention of Azeri journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, who vanished from Tbilisi on May 29 and resurfaced in custody in Baku the next day.
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.
Adjara Group lawyer [ Adjara Group owns Rooms Hotels in Georgia] says that Azerbaijani opposition blogger Hussein Bakikhanov jumped from the seventh floor of their hotel in central Tbilisi and that two hotel employees witnessed the incident on July 14.