Georgia: Secrecy Shrouds Government Allegations of Photographer Espionage

Despite growing public demand for an official explanation, Georgia's Interior Ministry officials remain tongue-tied about the reasons for their July 7 arrest of four well-known photographers.

By law, the government needs to present formal charges within 48 hours against the four photographers, who are being held in jail on suspicion of espionage. How much more information may be released when those charges are filed, however, is unknown. The case has been classified as secret; the photographers' lawyers decline to share details about the government's case with media.

Among the detainees are President Mikheil Saakashvili’s own photographer, Irakli Gedenidze, and his wife, also a photographer.

Saakashvili’s spokesperson Manana Manjgaladze on Friday offered a brief glimpse into the case, but clarified little. She said that the accusations are not related to the detainees' work as photographers, but rather are about passing on confidential information, such as documentation and officials’ schedules, on to what she described as a spy network. Gedenidze had access to such information as a pool photographer for the president’s office, she said.

Manjgaladze pointed out that the photographers were not known for their anti-government views and added that “[i]t is troubling that their detention is being linked to media freedom" issues.

But many civil rights activists, journalists and opposition politicians are making that connection. A protest rally of journalists wearing black blindfolds, organized by the opposition-minded media holding Alia, was held on July 8 in front of the Tbilisi police building where the four men are held.

The European Pressphoto Agency, the employer of detained photographer Zurab Kurtsikidze told the Georgian news site Netgazeti.ge that it had not been contacted by the Georgian government about the arrest.

In a July 7 statement to the Georgian weekly Liberali, EPA Editor-in-Chief Cengiz Seren described the Frankfurt-based agency as "surprised and extremely alarmed" by the news of Kurtsikidze's arrest. Stressing that Kurtsikidze had never violated media ethics or Georgian law, Saren asserted that "We are sure the Georgian authorities will correct the situation in several hours and that Zurab Kurtsikidze will be freed."

Reporters Without Borders commented, in turn, that the arrests beg some questions and that Georgian officials should answer them.

“The authorities obviously have a duty to protect national interests but the current fear of spies in Georgia must not be allowed to fuel a climate of intimidation in the media, and security imperatives must not override democratic principles,” the Paris-based press watchdog said.