Mukhtarly urges Georgia to publicize video evidence of his kidnapping

Today, Elchin Sadygov, an advocate of the journalist Afghan Mukhtarly, has posted a video on the Facebook, reporting his meeting on June 6 with his client at Baku SIZO-1 (pre-trial prison). "Afghan remains vivacious," said the advocate.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 31, the Sabail District Court of Baku pronounced the decision to arrest Afghan Mukhtarly for three months. The journalist is accused of violating the state border, smuggling and resisting a border guard. Afghan Mukhtarly states that he was kidnapped in Georgia and transported to Azerbaijan

According to Mr Sadygov, Afghan Mukhtarly made a statement about the question frequently asked by Georgian journalists: should Mukhtarly have complained about his kidnapping in Georgia if he and his family had received the citizenship of Georgia? "Afghan said he would not want to be a citizen of the country, where a person was kidnapped; he only asks to investigate his kidnapping and punish those guilty. Afghan believes that Georgian authorities should make public the records of the CCTV cameras located at the place of his kidnapping in Tbilisi and the streets and roads, along which he was transported. He also asked to make public the records of the surveillance cameras at the border checkpoint of the Lagodekhi District of Georgia," said the advocate.

"Mukhtarly is convinced that the publication of the video records will confirm that he was kidnapped by Georgian power agents and handed over to Azerbaijani special services," said Elchin Sadygov said.

Meanwhile, today, the organization in defence of journalists "Reporters Without Borders" and 22 international human rights organizations have sent a letter to Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili with an appeal to conduct a complete inquiry into the Mukhtarly's kidnapping in Tbilisi.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.