Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili urged to refrain from “preliminary conclusions” on the case of Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli during his speech at the Cabinet session on Thursday.
“I can understand very well the worries of the citizens and non-governmental sector working for the protection of human rights, but making preliminary conclusions is unacceptable. Nevertheless, defamation of institutions working and caring for state security is unacceptable,” the PM said.
“If we contribute to the lowering of confidence towards the state institutions, it will be every hard for us to indeed protect the security of our country,” he said.
Kvirikashvili also urged the law enforcement authorities “to do their best for this issue to be investigated in maximally short period of time so that nobody in our country doubts the protection of human rights.”
Furthermore, the Georgian PM noted that the “speculations” on the possible extradition by the Georgian authorities of Afgan Mukhtarli to the Azerbaijani authorities are “categorically unacceptable.”
“Apparently, I rule out that the involvement of state institutions in something of that kind,” he said, adding that “investigation is underway”and it is necessary to wait for the conclusion thereof.
