MFA Armenia responded to abduction and illegal detention of Azerbaijani journalist
ArmInfo. The absence of proper respond of international community on the arrest and extradition to Azerbaijan Alexander Lapshin bloger resulted abduction of Azerbaijani journalist Afghan Mukhtarli in Georgia and his illegal detention in Baku. Armenian Foreign Ministry press secretary Tigran Balayan wrote on his Facebook page, referring to the statement of European External Action Service on the given incident. EEAS statement, particularly reads: "The alleged abduction and illegal arbitrary detention of Azerbaijani nationals, including human rights defenders, residing in Georgia followed by their arrest and prosecution in Azerbaijan, demands swift, thorough and transparent investigation."
It is also stressed in the statement that EEAS welcomes the launch of such an investigation in Georgia as announced by its leadership.
"The alleged abduction and illegal arbitrary detention of Azerbaijani nationals, including human rights defenders, residing in Georgia followed by their arrest and prosecution in Azerbaijan, demands swift, thorough and transparent investigation", EEAS statement reads. To note, EEAS executes MFA obligations at the level of EU, implementing general foreign policy and security policy and EU foreign representation. Azerbaijani oppositionist journalist Afghan Mukhtarly was in Tbilisi the previous week. It became known later, Mukhtarly was arrested and was in Baku. The family of the journalist confirms that he has been abducted, threw money and took to Azerbaijan.
In Baku, Mukhtarly was accused of "illegal crossing of the state border", "illegal trade " and "use of violence dangerous to life or health, against a representative of authority ". If he is found guilty, he may be imprisoned for 15 years. The statement that Georgian MFA will conduct a full investigation to determine the true circumstances of the disappearance of Mukhtarly was made previous week by Georgian MFA Minister Georgy Mgebrishvili. At the same time, he strongly denied the confirmations that members of the Georgian power structures could be involved in the disappearance of Mukhtarli. Meanwhile, this is not the first statement about the incident with the disappearance of the Azerbaijani journalist. The State Department, the Council of Europe, the international organization Reporters without Borders and other human rights organizations have already called for a timely and transparent investigation. The disappearance of Azerbaijani journalist from Tbilisi caused sharp reaction in Georgia. Representatives of NGO and journalists held several actions in support of Mukhtarly in Tbilisi and other cities of Georgia. In addition, European Georgia opposition party offered to call the heads of MFA and the State Security Service of Georgia to Parliament.