20/03/2020 (Agence Europe) – The Chair of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, David McAllister (EPP, Germany), and the Chair of the European Parliament Delegation to the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, Marina Kaljurand (S&D, Estonia), welcomed, on Thursday 19 March, the release by the Azerbaijani authorities, two days earlier, of Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, “abducted in Tbilisi in 2017 and serving a six-year prison sentence on dubious charges” (see EUROPE 11939/20). He was able to join his family in Germany. In a joint statement, Ms Kaljurand and Mr McAllister regretted that the competent authorities had not yet conducted an in-depth investigation into the circumstances of the journalist’s abduction. “Accountability must be ensured and the right to due process must always prevail” they warned. (CG)