03 June, 2017
Journalists attend a rally Tbilisi, Georgia, Wednesday, May 31, 2017, to support an Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, who was abducted in Tbilisi on May 29 and now is in detention in the Azerbaijan capital Baku.
Muxtarli and Mustafayeva have lived in Georgia for three years, since Mustafayeva began graduate studies in journalism at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), an institution known for training future generations of civil servants and media professionals.
On 29 May, at about 7pm, after meeting a friend in a café in central Tbilisi, Mukhtarli called Mustafayeva to let her know that he was on his way home. She called the police and raised alarm with the media. Before he disappeared, Mukhtarli was investigating the assets of Azerbaijan's first family in Georgia, according to his colleague and independent investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova. "He was anxious especially after the arrest of Bayramli and an extradition case involving a Turkish citizen", said Dave Bloss, a Tbilisi-based investigative journalist who taught Mustafayeva at GIPA.
Mukhtarli's and Mustafayeva's residence permits for Georgia expired in September 2016, and the authorities declined to extend them.
"He is a prisoner of conscience detained exclusively for his work as a journalist", Levan Asatiani of Amnesty International told AFP.
He was then tied up, driven to the outskirts of the capital and beaten relentlessly before being taken across the border to Azerbaijan.
Georgia's Interior Minister Giorgi Mghebrishvili confirmed that it is possible to cross the Georgian-Azerbaijani border somewhere other than an official crossing point, but that it happens rarely.
According to Human Rights Watch, his lawyer Elchin Sadigov reported that the journalist was kidnapped by Georgian-speaking men in Georgian police uniform, who put a bag over his head, beat him, changed cars twice and stuffed €10,000 in his pockets before transporting him across the border to Azerbaijan.
Muxtarli himself told VOA Azeri a week ago that he was concerned after learning that Georgian intelligence offices had been quietly approaching Azeri expatriates and dissidents and "recommending" that they leave Georgia and return home.
Georgia's Interior Ministry said on May 30 that it had launched an investigation into the alleged "unlawful imprisonment" of Muxtarli. "Azerbaijan's crackdown on independent reporting has forced many journalists into exile". A hearing was scheduled for May 31 in Baku (after M-S press time).
"This fact proves that the law enforcement agencies in Georgia are weak".
Either way, Mustafayeva blames Tbilisi for her husband's fate.
"Georgia is a regional leader in terms of protection of human rights and journalists in particular".
Mukhtarli moved to Tbilisi in 2015 to escape reprisals for his work by the Aliyev government.
Not content with crushing all forms of pluralism in Azerbaijan, President Aliyev has been waging a relentless war against his remaining critics since 2014. "Azerbaijani authorities should immediately free him and allow him to reunite with his wife in Georgia".
Many high-profile Azerbaijani opposition figures have recently been denied residency permits in Georgia, prompting accusations that Tbilisi is collaborating with Baku to make life more hard for Azerbaijani dissidents.
Last month Jamal Ali, a rapper and producer for Azerbaijani independent media outlet MeydanTV, was denied entry to Georgia, according to openDemocracy.
Muxtarli "was seeking safety and had to flee [Azerbaijan] as a result of a government oppression", Gogia said in a telephone interview with VOA Georgian.