Leyla Mustafayeva and Afgan Mukhtarli (Leyla Mustafayeva /Facebook)
Azerbaijani journalist Leyla Mustafayeva, whose husband, investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli was abducted in Georgia and taken to Azerbaijan, has left the country with her daughter. She plans to request asylum in Germany.
Mustafayeva left Tbilisi on 11 October fearing the threats she is exposed to, the family’s lawyer Archi Chopikashvili says.
On 12 October Chopikashvili told OC Media that Mustafayeva is not planning to return and will apply for asylum in Germany.
‘Due to our dissatisfaction towards the investigation, and considering the threats that exist, there was a high possibility Leyla Mustafayeva (just like her husband) could be kidnapped and imprisoned in Azerbaijan on political grounds’, Chopikashvili wrote on Facebook.
Mustafayeva has claimed she may be a ‘target of Azerbaijani security services’, as she reports to have been spied on. She published photos of men she alleged had been following her on 19 September, claiming this has remained uninvestigated. Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office say they have launched an investigation.
Azerbaijani investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli disappeared near his flat on 29 May in Tbilisi. He turned up in custody in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku a day later. He claims that he was abducted by Azerbaijani security services, with possible Georgian involvement.
A court in Baku has denied Mukhtarli bail. According to his lawyer Zibeyda Sadigova, Mukhtarli suffers from diabetes and heart disease and has been denied proper treatment in jail.
Mukhtarli was last seen in Georgia by his friend and colleague Dashgin Aghalarli, another Azerbaijani living in exile, on the evening of 29 May. According to Aghalarli, the two were having dinner in a café on Orbeliani Square near Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue, which, according to Mukhtarli’s wife, is 15 minutes away from the place they were staying.
Sadigov says that Mukhtarli was abducted near his house by plain-clothed men who spoke Georgian. The men put the journalist into a car, tied him up, put a bag over his head, and drove him for roughly two hours. According to Sadigov, they changed cars before putting him into a third car, with Azerbaijani-speaking individuals in it. When they removed the bag from his head, he was already on the other side of the Azerbaijan–Georgia border crossing point.
Leyla Mustafayeva told media that his passport remained in Tbilisi.
Azerbaijani authorities are accusing Mukhtarli of crossing the border illegally in possession of €10,000 ($11,200) in illegal money, which Mukhtarli’s lawyer claims was planted on him.
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.
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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
Azerbaijani journalist Leyla Mustafayeva, whose husband, investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli was abducted in Georgia and taken to Azerbaijan, has left the country with her daughter. She plans to request asylum in Germany. 
