Georgia charges photographers of spying for Russia

ONE OF three Georgian photographers accused of spying for Russia says they are being persecuted by Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili for selling pictures of violent anti-government protests to the international media.

Mr Saakashvili’s personal photographer, Irakli Gedenidze, foreign ministry photographer Giorgi Abdaladze and Zurab Kurtsikidze of the Frankfurt-based European Pressphoto Agency have been charged with passing confidential information to Russian intelligence.

Mr Gedenidze’s wife, Natia, who is also a photographer, was charged with aiding espionage and was released on bail.

“I am sure my arrest is related to the May 26th rally,” Mr Abdaladze said in a letter published in a Georgian newspaper yesterday. He was referring to a protest in central Tbilisi that culminated in clashes between marchers and riot police and the death of a policeman and a protester.

Mr Abdaladze – who is now on hunger strike – said Mr Gedenidze “took a picture of the dead protester, killed by the riot police . . . I am sure Saakashvili found out and he did not forgive Gedenidze.”

Government officials claim the policeman and protester were struck and killed by speeding cars carrying opposition leaders away from the rally. Mr Saakashvili’s critics deny the accusation.

Georgian television broadcast police footage at the weekend of Mr Gedenidze confessing to giving Mr Kurtsikidze details of Mr Saakashvili’s itinerary, motorcade route and offices in return for payment.

That information and other classified material was allegedly passed on to Russia’s military intelligence organisation, known as the GRU, which officials claim is active in Georgia.

The European Pressphoto Agency said there was nothing suspicious in Mr Kurtsikidze asking fellow photographers for their bank details, because the agency wanted to send them money for pictures they had provided.

Mr Saakashvili’s critics, who accuse him of cracking down hard on political opponents and independent media, say most televised confessions are forced and that claims of Russian spy networks are the president’s way of distracting Georgians from their economic and social problems.

“I believe nobody has any doubt that we are the main target for a giant country run by former KGB agents,” countered Mr Saakashvili after the arrests were made.

“This is not paranoia but it’s about the rule of law and equality for everyone . . . As for the personal photographer, I got very upset about it and I still am.”

Reporters Without Borders, which campaigns to protect journalists around the world, urged Georgia to make the investigation as transparent as possible.

“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,” the Paris-based group said. “Security imperatives must not override democratic principles.”

Opposition leaders say the EU and US are reluctant to criticise Mr Saakashvili’s allegedly authoritarian tendencies because he is their main ally in the Caucasus region, which for centuries has been dominated by Russia and is now a crucial transit route for oil and gas.