Previously convicted Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli calls for release of Georgian colleague
Opposition Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli has called on the Georgian authorities to release Mzia Amaglobeli, the founder and director of the Batumelebi newspaper group. She has been on a hunger strike in prison for over a month in protest – she is accused of using violence against a police officer.
“I demand the immediate release of my Georgian colleague Mzia Amaglobeli, the founder of the Netgazeti and Batumelebi publications. The journalist, who has been on hunger strike for over 32 days, is in critical condition. The Ivanishvili regime must respect the right to freedom of expression and assembly. Journalists must not be persecuted,” Mukhtarli wrote on his social media page.
Mzia Amaglobeli faces up to 7 years in prison for slapping the Batumi police chief, who, according to her, insulted her during a protest.
In 2024, the ECHR ordered the Georgian and Azerbaijani authorities to pay 12,500 and 8,500 euros to Afgan Mukhtarli. He fled from Azerbaijan to Georgia in 2015, fearing for his safety due to corruption investigations into the family of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. On May 29, 2017, he was kidnapped in central Tbilisi, tied up, beaten and forced into a car, and then sent to Azerbaijan. There, he was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of illegally crossing the state border, smuggling and resisting a government official. Under pressure from the international community, the journalist was released in March 2020.
The later arrested former deputy head of the Georgian State Security Service Soso Gogashvili testified that Afgan Mukhtarli was kidnapped and handed over to Azerbaijan on the orders of the founder of Georgia's ruling party "Georgian Dream", billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
