Intelligence

Georgian President's Office Says Detained Journalists Were Spies

July 08, 2011

A spokeswoman for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says four Georgian news photographers arrested on July 7 were part of a "spying network."

The spokeswoman added that the photographers' arrests had "nothing to do with their journalism."

The detained photojournalists are accused of spying for a foreign country, although Georgian officials have yet to name the country involved.

The detainees are Zurab Kurtsikidze, a photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency; freelancer Giorgi Abdaladze; and Saakashvili's personal photographer, Irakli Gedenidze, together with his wife Natia Gedenidze, also a photographer.

AP photographer Shakh Aivazov was also briefly detained and released without charges.

Lawyers for Kurtsikidze and Abdaladze say their clients deny wrongdoing.

compiled from agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia_president_office_detained_journalists_spies/24259334.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.