National Movement of Georgia Demands Resignation of Heads of Ministry of Internal Affairs and State Security Service

Tbilisi / 01.06.17 / Turan: Representative of the National Movement Party of Georgia, MP Salome Samadashvili, stated that Georgia's law enforcement agencies were involved in the abduction of the Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli in the center of Tbilisi on May 29.

"Such a special operation could not pass without the decision of the Prime Minister of Georgia, because such special operations are coordinated at the highest political level.

It has been 24 hours since the Azerbaijani journalist disappeared on the territory of Georgia. He was later arrested by the Azerbaijani law enforcers. We hear absurd statements of the Georgian authorities on this issue. In the parliament, representatives of the majority are not interested in clarifying the truth," she said.

Georgia returns to those dark times when kidnapping a person on the street was common, and the current authorities must bear responsibility for this. "If representatives of Georgian law enforcement agencies participated in the kidnapping of the Azerbaijani journalist, then we are dealing with a criminal offense that needs to be investigated.

If our law enforcers did not participate in this special operation, this testifies to the complete destruction of the security system in our country and anyone can be kidnapped from the streets of Tbilisi. The only adequate response and demand is the immediate resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and the head of the State Security Service. A big blow has been struck on the international image of our country," Salome Samadashvili said.

In turn, Georgian Interior Minister Georgy Mgeblishvili said the Georgian law enforcement agencies cannot be implicated in the abduction of the Azerbaijani journalist. "I declare with full responsibility that the law enforcement agencies of Georgia do not and cannot come into contact with such a version of the case," Mgeblishvili said.

According to Mukhtarli's lawyers, he was detained by unknown persons in the center of Tbilisi near his home on May 29 and was forcibly transferred to Baku, where the authorities accused him of illegally crossing the border and smuggling.

The spouse of Afgan Mukhtarli and his lawyers believe that the Georgian government helped Azerbaijan in the kidnapping of the opposition journalist.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia in connection with the incident conducts investigation on the article Illegal Deprivation of Liberty.

In turn, the press service of the company Socar Energy Georgia, a subsidiary of SOCAR, also issued a statement denying information that the employees of the Socar Security Service conducted surveillance over Afgan Mukhtarli. -02D-