About one hundred people took part in an action of protest of journalists and human righs activists in Tbilisi

About one hundred people took part in the action of journalists and human righs activists which was held in the evening of July, 12, near the Parliament of Georgia and lasted about an hour. This event continued a series of actions of protest carried out by representatives of mass media, non-governmental organizations and human rights activists in Tbilisi after detention of the photographers.

The participants drew up in several lines on the steps of the building of the supreme legislative body with posters and whistles. They were wearing white T-shirts with simbolic pictutes of cameras crossed out by red lines and inscriptions "No Pictures" - "No Democracy". Among the participants there were representatives of various mass media: press photographers, observers, videotape operators, editors of different media, representatives of TV-channels as well as members of non-governmental organizations, experts and a number of representatives of oppositional parties.

Tinatin Khidasheli, one of the leaders of the Republican party, declared at the action near the Parliament that she joined the journalists’ demand to remove security classification from the case of press photographers and provide concrete proofs of spy activities of the detained. “Confessionary statements by no means can be considered as proofs”, IA “Novosti-Georgia” quotes Khidasheli.

At the same time, she called for mass media not to reproduce the materials of the Ministry of Interior Affairs on the case made public by the moment. “Not a single mass media, the more so if an independent one, must become a participator of this discrimination by reproducing these materials”, Khidasheli declared.

“If the authorities do not hear us maybe we can draw their attention by whistling and then they will explain us what our colleagues are accused of”, Lasha Tugushi, editor-in chief of a popular Georgian newspaper “Resonansi” said to the journalists. “The case with the detention of press photographers looks very much like paranoia”, “Interfax” quotes Tugushi.