Investigative journalist abducted in Georgia, incarcerated in Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli and allow him to return to neighbouring Georgia, International Media Support said today.

Azerbaijani investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli was abducted by a group of unknown assailants in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and smuggled over the border to Azerbaijan on 29 May. Today, he was brought before a court in Baku where he was sentenced to a three-month pre-trial detention on bogus charges of smuggling, resisting arrest, and illegally crossing the border.  If convicted, he could face a substantial prison sentence.

“We resolutely condemn these despicable actions against Afgan Mukhtarli, an independent Azerbaijani journalist who has exposed high-level corruption within the Azerbaijani regime on multiple occasions,” said Gulnara Akhundova, Head of the Global Response Department at IMS.

IMS welcomes the fact that Georgia’s Interior Ministry launched an investigation into Mukhtarli’s illegal abduction. IMS calls on the authorities in Georgia to ensure a rapid, impartial investigation of Mukhtarli’s abduction, and to demand his safe passage back to Georgia.

“Georgia has always been a regional leader in terms of providing an enabling environment and ensuring media freedom. We hope that in line with its international obligations, the Georgian authorities will do their utmost to guarantee that journalists and media workers are safe on Georgian soil,” Akhundova said.

Mukhtarli’s abduction and arrest further heighten the climate of fear caused by the increasingly severe crackdown on those exercising their rights to peaceful freedom of expression in Azerbaijan. This comes shortly after the appalling sentencing of the country’s top political blogger Mehman Huseynov and the suspicious death in custody of another blogger, Mehman Galandarov.  In recent years, the Azerbaijani authorities have imprisoned and persecuted dozens of bloggers, journalists, human rights defenders, politicians, youth activists, and other dissenting voices.