Three Azerbaijani truck drivers languishing in Georgia for 11th month

Three Azerbaijani truck drivers have been stuck at a custom’s office in Georgia’s Batumi city for nearly 11 months now. The three drivers and another driver from Georgia were detained in April last year upon entering the territory of Batumi as the trucks they were driving contained military vests, something the drivers were unaware of. Thus, customs officers confiscated the drivers’ documents and banned them from leaving Georgia after they found military vests inside the sealed containers. The three Azerbaijani drivers told local media that they were unaware about the existence of military vests in the containers. “We loaded the cargo in Istanbul, Turkey. We were told that the cargo contained sports goods but turned out they were military vests. We were unaware of this. We couldn’t have inspected whether these were military vests or sports vests. We crossed the border from Turkey and got detained in Georgia. We have been detained since April 24, 2023. We’ve been here for ten months now. Nobody has helped us for ten months. It’s clear whom the cargo belongs to, where it would be delivered and which company the documents belong to. We haven’t stolen anything. This situation has nothing to do with us. We have no fault. Nobody helps us or gives us any answers,” one of the drivers Elshad Huseynov told local media. “We have asked them to unload the cargo into the customs office and set us free. But nobody listens to us,” another truck driver Rafael Abdullayev said. The military vests had been sent by Turkey’s Karabogha company and were to be delivered to the Lana Group company in Kyrgyzstan. The drivers experienced no problems at customs’ office in Turkey. It should be noted that neither Lana Group company nor Karabogha company have made any inquiries about the confiscated products. Apparently, both companies knew in advance that they might experience problems with customs officers. However, it’s the truck drivers who have been suffering due to this situation. The drivers spoke about the difficulties they had been experiencing since their detention by Georgia’s custom’s officers. They have been sleeping in their trucks and had relied on help from local residents who provide them with food. The truck drivers said the Azerbaijani Consulate in Batumi and the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tbilisi have ignored their appeal for help. They once again asked the Azerbaijani government to help solve their problem and ensure that they are allowed to leave Georgia.