President Giorgi Margvelashvili said in his brief comment on May 31 that the statement of Afgan Mukhtarli’s lawyer regarding journalist’s abduction, “needs to be analyzed thoroughly, since disappearance of a person from the territory of Georgia, be it through the sea, air, or land routes, the Georgian capital or its border, is a serious challenge to our statehood and our sovereignty.”
The President also stressed that the authorities should protect the country’s “prestige and the security of its citizens.”
President Margvelashvili highlighted the role of Georgia as a regional leader with respect to media and human rights protection, saying that it is “a matter of Georgia’s pride, as well as a component of our statehood and sovereignty, and observing this [high] standard is a matter of importance for our statehood.”