Azerbaijani media has reported that Afgan Mukhtarli’s sister, niece and nephew were found dead in their apartment.
Mukhtarli, who was living in self-imposed exile in Georgia, was kidnapped by Azerbaijani security forces and brought to Baku, where he remains in detention on trumped up charges of smuggling money.
According to the news agency АПА, the investigation has already started and the bodies of the deceased have been taken for expert analysis.
Even though there hasn’t been an official statement yet, the preliminary version is that the reason for their death was poisoning with CO. The news agency also reported that there was another child in the apartment, who was found alive.
Since Mukhtarlis was kidnapped from Tbilisi, Georgian civil society loudly criticized the Georgian government, believing the government was complicit in the abduction as Mukhtarli was forcefully taken across the border without a passport.
On December 20, the Prime Minister of Georgia commented on Afgan Mukhtarli’s case by saying that he admits “that this was a very serious failure. Such a thing should not have happened. However the exact truth is still unknown. The fact itself [of the kidnapping] is a big failure.”
Mukhtarli’s lawyer had accused the Georgian government of violating international law by allowing Azerbaijani special forces to detain Mukhtarli while he was on Georgian territory.
High-ranking Georgian officials including the prime minister, interior minister, and justice minister denied allegations that the Georgian authorities had any involvement in or knowledge of the abduction.