The case of Mukhtarly shaking Georgian security forces

Baku/20.07.17/Turan: Heads of the border police and director of the counterintelligence department of Georgia were dismissed due to the disappearance of an opposition Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarly in Tbilisi, who was later arrested in Baku. Georgian Interior Minister Georgy Mgebrishvili said at a briefing that the personnel decisions were taken in order to avoid any suspicion in this case, which is being investigated in Georgia.

"The heads of services who are directly responsible for the control of the state border and for counterintelligence are released until the end of the investigation," he said. Georgy Mgebrishvili stated that he was "sure of their innocence, but the investigation cannot exclude any versions, and once the border crossed under unclear circumstances, such decisions were made."

Mukhtarly was abducted on June 29 in Tbilisi, tortured, and then forcibly transferred to Azerbaijan, where he was arrested on charges of illegally crossing the border, resisting the representative of the government with the use of force, as well as in smuggling (10,000 euros were planted in his pocket - articles 315.2, 318.1, 206.1). The European Court of Human Rights has accepted a complaint on the arrest of Mukhtarli for priority consideration. -06D-