Unidentified men have poured paint on the statue of former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev in downtown Tbilisi, Imedia reports.

According to the TV company, the incident occurred late at night. The cleaning service of the Tbilisi Municipality cleaned the statue all night long. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tbilisi has not yet commented on the incident.

The reasons behind the occurrence are unknown, but the Georgian media outlets say that this might be connected with Azerbaijani opposition journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, who disappeared from Tbilisi under unknown circumstances and appeared in the territory of Azerbaijan, where he was arrested.