Protest in support of Afgan Mukhtarli in Tbilisi (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
The Baku Court of Appeals rejected an appeal on 6 June by jailed journalist Afgan Mukhtarli. Mukhtarli was abducted from Tbilisi to Azerbaijan last week, stirring anger among local journalists and international rights organisations.
Meanwhile, local journalists staged a protest in Georgia’s parliament against the ‘silence from the Georgian authorities’ about the case. While attending a hearing at Parliament’s Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee, journalists put black plastic bags over their heads.
‘Georgia’s authorities need to answer our questions and publish the footage showing how Mukhtarli was abducted’, local media outlet Netgazeti quoted the journalists.
The head of the committee, Sopo Kiladze, said that the message from journalists was clear, but added that the ‘we need to give a few more weeks to the police’.
The committee did not discuss Mukhtarli’s case.
Editors of online media outletsNetgazeti, Liberali, On.ge, and Studia Monitori met with US ambassador Ian Kelly to discuss Mukhtarli’s abduction on 6 June. Several other journalists met with the head of the EU Delegation to Georgia, Ambassador János Herman, the previous day.
Mukhtarli was beaten and taken across the Azerbaijani-Georgian border, where he was detained by Azerbaijani police. Baku’s Sabail District Court imposed three months of pretrial detention on Mukhtarli on 31 May. He is charged with smuggling €10,000 ($11,200), border trespass, and disobeying border guards.
For more details about the case, Read on OC Media’s reports
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond doubt that the Georgian Government abducted investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli and handed him over to Azerbaijan.
Mukhtarli, a prominent journalist known for investigating official corruption in Azerbaijan, disappeared from the streets of Tbilisi on the night of 29 May 2017. He reappeared in Azerbaijani custody a day later and was charged with illegally crossing the border.
In it
The former deputy head of the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG), Ioseb (Soso) Gogashvili, has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges including abuse of power. Supporters of the former official claim the charges are politically motivated.
Tbilisi City Court announced the decision on Tuesday afternoon.
The court found Gogashvili guilty of all five charges, which included exceeding official powers, obtaining, storing, and disseminating personal data, and illegally purchasing a
In this week’s episode of the Caucasus Digest, Robin Fabbro talks to Ani Avetisyan and Ismi Aghayev about the latest accusations of war crimes levelled against Azerbaijan.
Read More:
* Western countries express horror at Azerbaijan POW execution video
* Azerbaijan ‘investigating’ new POW execution footage
* Footage appears to show desecration of female Armenian soldier
OC Media co-director and journalist Mariam Nikuradze discusses the Georgian State Security Service
Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli has identified Giorgi Trapaidze, the head of Georgian counterintelligence, as being personally among his abductors.
Nodar Meladzis Shabati, an investigative show on TV channel Pirveli, broke the story on 1 October.
After showing Mukhtarli images of three officials from the State Security Service (SSG) possibly involved in his kidnapping, Mukhtarli recognised Trapaidze as the driver of the car by which he was taken from Tbilisi.
Mukhtarli, a prominent
The Baku Court of Appeals rejected an appeal on 6 June by jailed journalist Afgan Mukhtarli. Mukhtarli was
