US State Department: Georgian Govt' Took Steps to Investigate Some Allegations of HR Abuse
"The Georgian government took steps to investigate some allegations of human rights abuses, but shortcomings remained, including a lack of accountability for the inappropriate police force used against journalists and protesters during the June 20-21 demonstrations and the 2017 abduction and rendition from Georgia of Azerbaijani journalist and activist Afgan Mukhtarli," says the 2019 Human Rights Report published by the US Department of State.
The report notes that the government’s investigation begun in 2017 into the reported kidnapping of Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli by government officials remained stalled.
“During the year the PDO [Public Defender’s Office], local and international NGOs, and the international community continued to express concerns regarding impunity for government officials in connection with the reported 2017 abduction and forced rendition of Azerbaijani freelance journalist and activist Afgan Mukhtarli from Georgia to Azerbaijan. As of December the PGO claimed it continued to wait for a response to its request to Azerbaijan’s government to interview Mukhtarli,” the report reads.
The document further reads that the PDO, NGOs, and Mukhtarli’s wife criticized the investigation for its lack of urgency and transparency, as well as for authorities’ refusal to grant Mukhtarli “victim status.”
“Such status would have allowed Mukhtarli’s lawyers to request special protection for the life, health, and property of Mukhtarli and his close relatives. NGOs accused investigators of ignoring alleged abuses of power by government authorities. The developments, combined with the government’s failure to issue an interim report on the investigation and the July 2018 comment of Vakhtang Gomelauri, then head of the SSSG[State Security Service of Georgia], that “some investigations are never solved” added to concerns of government involvement in Mukhtarli’s disappearance from Tbilisi and arrest on the Azerbaijan-Georgia border,” the report reads.
By Ana Dumbadze