RWB urges Georgian authorities to be "transparent" in "photographers' case"

The international human rights organization "Reporters Without Borders" (RWB) urges the authorities of Georgia to clarify the circumstances of detention of the photographers, who were arrested on suspicion of espionage. This was reported by Johan Bihr, the head of the European and Central-Asian Branch of the RWB.

On July 7 in the morning, the Georgian police arrested four press photographers; they were accused of "disclosure of various kinds of information using their official position and with the detriment to the interests of Georgia, to an organization operating under the shelter of a secret service of a foreign state." The case of the detained photographers was classified as a "secret" one. On July 7 in the evening, one of them, Georgi Abdaladze, a photographer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Georgia, went on a dry hunger strike in protest against the detention. Today the state of his health has deteriorated.

"The main issue that worries us is that after the war of 2008 Georgia is facing a real fear-mongering and spy scare; these fears create the atmosphere of intimidation. We repeatedly received reports of independent journalists and bloggers who had been threatened and labelled as Russian spies," said Mr Bihr.

He noted that the RWB does not have sufficient information about detention of photojournalists, since all data is classified and kept as secret. Therefore, the RWB cannot yet condemn the arrest or demand the release of the journalists, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

"However, we urge the authorities to give explanations. We are concerned about the trend as such. At the journalists' arrest, their equipment was confiscated, including laptops, phones, cameras, etc. We are concerned, at least, about violation of the principle of protecting journalists' sources," the RWB's representative has stated.