An Azerbaijani investigative journalist who vanished yesterday evening from Tbilisi, Georgia, is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment after resurfacing today in custody across the border in Baku, Azerbaijan after what he described to his lawyer as a harrowing cross-border abduction, Amnesty International said.

“This is a deeply sinister development in a country known for its long crackdown on journalists and human rights defenders. Afgan Mukhtarli must be immediately and unconditionally released and protected from torture and other ill-treatment. He is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for his work as a journalist,” said Levan Asatiani, Amnesty International’s Campaigner on the South Caucasus, who is currently in Tbilisi.

According to the Mukhtarli’s lawyer, Afgan Mukhtarli was abducted in Tbilisi by plain-clothed men who spoke Georgian. The men tied up the journalist in a car, took him to the outskirts of Tbilisi and beat him relentlessly. They then changed cars twice before taking him across the border to Azerbaijan. 

“It seems that the Georgian authorities were also complicit in Afgan Mukhtarli’s abduction and forced return to Azerbaijan. His family told Amnesty International that he has often been followed by Azerbaijani-speaking men on the streets of Tbilisi, indicating that he has been under surveillance for some time. Georgia must promptly and impartially investigate what happened and hold accountable all those involved in this gruesome operation,” said Levan Asatiani.