Azerbaijani journalist abducted from Georgia: lawyer

A pro-opposition Azerbaijani journalist has been abducted in Georgia and handed over to security officials in his tightly controlled homeland, his lawyer said today.

Afgan Mukhtarli, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Georgia since 2015 after investigating strongman leader Ilham Aliyev for corruption, was reported missing by his wife on Tuesday.

His lawyer, Elchin Sadykhov, told journalists in Baku that Mukhtarli was "abducted in Tbilisi by plain-clothed men who spoke Georgian, beaten and later handed to Azerbaijani security forces."

Mukhtarli was then taken to Azerbaijan and charged with smuggling 10,000 euros, Sadykhov said, adding that the banknotes had been planted in his pocket.

Prosecutors in Azerbaijan said that Mukhtarli was detained by border guards after trying to "illegally cross" the country's frontier and that the money was found during a subsequent search.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said in a statement that Mukhtarli's "disappearance from the Georgian territory" was a "serious challenge to the Georgian state and its sovereignty."

"Georgia is a regional leader in terms of protection of human rights and journalists in particular. Upholding this standard is a matter of our state sovereignty," he said.

Georgia's interior ministry said in a statement that it had opened an investigation into what it called an "illegal detention".

Rights groups denounced Mukhtarli's suspected abduction, and warned that he could be at risk of torture.

"He is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for his work as a journalist," Levan Asatiani of Amnesty International told AFP.

Asatiani said it appeared that the authorities in pro- Western Georgia "were complicit in the harrowing cross-border abduction."

Giorgi Gogia, the South Caucasus director at Human Rights Watch, said the group was "extremely concerned over Mukhtarli's safety."

"Azerbaijan should immediately free him," he said in a statement.

The authorities in oil-rich Azerbaijan have faced strong international criticism over claims it routinely harasses and jails the president's opponents, though the government has denied the allegations.

Aliyev, 55, took over in 2003 after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 1993.

Georgia, which has long been an asylum destination for Azerbaijani dissidents fleeing persecution at home, had faced mounting pressure from Baku over sheltering Aliyev's critics.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)