On May 29, 2017, Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli disappeared in Tbilisi. His wife, Leyla Mustafayeva, immediately suspected that the Azerbaijani authorities were involved in his disappearance. The following day, it was confirmed that the missing journalist was being held in Baku. After this, Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs launched an investigation into the unlawful deprivation of Mukhtarli’s liberty. From the very beginning, the journalist claimed that representatives of Georgian law enforcement agencies had participated in his abduction from Tbilisi and his handover to the Azerbaijani side.

Mukhtarli had been living in Tbilisi since 2015, as he could no longer reside in his homeland due to his critical reporting on the Azerbaijani government.

According to his lawyer, after meeting with the journalist, Mukhtarli said that a bag had been placed over his head in Tbilisi before he was driven away to an unknown location, and that €10,000 had been planted on him. The bag, he said, was removed near an Azerbaijani border checkpoint. He was later charged by the Azerbaijani authorities with illegal border crossing and smuggling.

Mukhtarli’s case alarmed not only Azerbaijanis living in Tbilisi but also Georgian journalists. On May 31, they gathered outside the Government Administration building in Tbilisi to show solidarity with their abducted colleague. To symbolize the kidnapping, several protesters covered their heads with plastic bags. Another protest was held outside the State Security Service building.

The journalists’ protests continued in the following days. On June 6, during a parliamentary Human Rights Committee session, attending journalists covered their heads with black plastic bags in protest and held up signs reading “You won’t get away with it.”

Mukhtarli’s wife remained vocal about the case, trying to make her voice heard internationally. She met with Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and continued to demand justice. On June 15, the European Parliament adopted a resolution strongly condemning Mukhtarli’s prosecution and calling for his release. More than 50 members of the European Parliament also sent a letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, urging him to immediately release the journalist.

Leyla Mustafayeva left Georgia in October 2017, saying that she and her child had been under surveillance following her husband’s abduction.

In January 2018, an Azerbaijani court sentenced Afgan Mukhtarli to six years in prison, a verdict later upheld by the Supreme Court. However, in March 2020, the Azerbaijani authorities unexpectedly released him and flew him to Germany, where his wife and child were living. Germany granted the family political asylum.

Mukhtarli returned to Georgia on April 7, 2021, to give testimony in his own case. He had already tried to enter the country in October 2020, but said he was denied entry at the border. By then, the investigation into his abduction was still unresolved, and there was no answer to the central question — who abducted the Azerbaijani journalist?

In September 2024, the European Court of Human Rights issued its ruling in the case “Mukhtarli v. Azerbaijan and Georgia.” The court found violations by both countries, stating that Georgia had breached Articles 3 and 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights for failing to conduct an effective investigation into Mukhtarli’s abduction, ill-treatment, and unlawful transfer to Azerbaijan.