Afgan Mukhtarli worked for the "Yeni Musavat" Azerbaijani newspaper, collaborated with the independent news agency Meydan TV, the IWPR and OCCRP.
[4] In the recent years Mukhtarli has worked on investigations along the route of his abduction from Tbilisi to the Lagodekhi-Belakani section of the Georgian-Azerbaijani border, where he was handed over to the Azerbaijani side.
[6] On January 12, 2018, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison on charges of illegal crossing of the state border, contraband and resistance against government officials.
[7] Through his lawyer Mukhtarli claimed that "he was kidnapped by men in Georgian police uniforms, who beat him in the car, put a hood on his head, stuffed his pockets with money and handed him over to Azeri state security officers.
"[20] In 2021, the prosecutor's office granted Mukhtarli victim's status "which means legal recognition by the state that the journalist was definitely abducted from Tbilisi with the participation of several people.