Confession Brings New Twist in Georgia's Photogate

A fresh videotaped espionage confession has thrown another curve ball in the scandal surrounding an alleged spy ring of three prominent Georgian photographers.


While a large part of Georgian media rallied in his support, freelance photographer Giorgi Abdalaze, who worked for the Georgian foreign ministry and various news outlets, went on the record this weekend with a detailed account of his supposed cooperation with Russian secret services over the past several years. 


In a videotaped statement released by prosecutors on July 18, Abdaladze, who earlier protested his innocence, recounted that he was recruited by the Russian secret services back in 2002, when, as a reporter for a Georgian newspaper, he went to cover a story in South Ossetia, and was detained by separatist South Ossetian militia. He claimed that the South Ossetians took him to Russian military officials, who blackmailed him into cooperation with Russian intelligence. “They put [down] photos of my brothers, and my mother and said that my family would be assassinated if I did not agree [to cooperate],” Abdaladze said.


Among his supposed assignments was shooting rallies allegedly organized by Russian secret services in Georgia. After starting work at parliament's press office in 2007, his intelligence handler also requested photos of "all meetings between the parliamentary chairperson [current opposition leader Nino Burjanadze] and visitors," he said.


Abdaladze claimed that, during this period, fellow detainee Zurab Kurtsikidze, a freelance photographer for the European Photopress Agency, told him he was also working for Moscow. He alleged that Kurtsikidze reminded him of his obligations to the Russians, asked him for photos and, eventually, minutes of some of Burjanadze's meetings. “He paid 150 to 250 euros ($210.65 - $351) depending on how difficult the assignment was,” Adaladze said.


Photos of Georgia's five-day war with Russia were also sent to Moscow, he claimed. “Mainly, we were taking pictures of how our army was retreating from the villages, what were the sentiments in the population,” Abdaladze alleged. “We were also making notes and sending them along.”


He claimed that that cooperation continued when he began working in 2010 for the foreign ministry, including information about Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze's meetings with President Mikheil Saakashvili. “On the excuse that I could not upload photos on my computer,I would
go to another computer where I knew I would find these transcripts,”
Abdaladze said of his time at the foreign
ministry. “Pretending that I was uploading photos, I was looking for
various files.”


Abdaladze's lawyers have rejected his confession as given under psychological duress; attorney Eka Beselia claimed that it contains "many factual inaccuracies and inconsistencies."


The prosecutor's office has not confirmed media speculation that the confession could be part of a plea-bargaining deal.
Zurab Kurtsikidze's lawyer reported on July 18 that his client had made a similar statement to prosecutors, but details have not yet been released. A videotaped statement by Saakashvili's photographer, Irakli Gedenidze, already has been released.


This latest confession, though, is unlikely to quiet criticism of the arrests and investigation. Earlier in the day on Monday, some 40 Georgian media outlets signed an appeal to the diplomatic community and international journalists not to stop paying attention to the case, saying that "[e]xtracting confessions in dubious circumstances through coercion fail to convince us that the photojournalists were spies.”