NGO "Transparency International-Georgia" demands to reconsider photographers' case

The non-governmental organization "Transparency International-Georgia" has demanded to reconsider the so-called "photographers' case", since the NGO believes that the reporters, accused of espionage, gave confessions under threat of torture.

The "Caucasian Knot" reported that photographers Georgy Abdaladze, Zurab Kurtsikidze, and Irakli Gedenidze were arrested in the morning of July 7, 2011, and all of them were charged of espionage for Russia. On July 22, the Tbilisi City Court found them guilty; however, it pronounced the decision on conditional sentence.

On September 26, the NGO "Transparency International-Georgia" issued the statement, in which it demanded to re-investigate the case and stated that "the confessions had been given under pressure." Earlier, the NGO demanded to remove a label "secret" from the case.

In his interview to the Georgian newspaper "The Chronicle", published on September 24, photographer Georgy Abdaladze, who was sentenced conditionally on charges of espionage, said that he was forced to give a confession. According to him, he decided to tell the public the truth and to report on the situation in the prison, where he was serving a preliminary sentence, after a "prison scandal" that caused mass protest actions in Georgia.

In particular, Georgy Abdaladze stated that he had been promised a light sentence for a confession, and in the event of his refusal, he had been threatened "to get rot" in prison. According to Georgy Abdaladze, at midnight, he was taken out of the ward, and a guard told him that he had a chance for salvation "a ticket out" and recommended him to use it. The guard recalled the sensational stories of the deaths of Zurab Zhvaniya, ex-Prime Minister Georgia, Badri Patarkatsishvili, a Georgian billionaire, and Sandro Girgvliani, a bank employee.

"I was forced to write nonsense," Georgy Abdaladze said, while reporting on his confession on his recruitment by the Russian secret services and his cooperation with Igor Giorgadze, ex-Minister of State Security of Georgia.

Georgy Abdaladze claims that he had to learn by heart the confession that he wrote and then to practice a speech. Only after that, his confession was recorded on videotape. According to the photographer, the letter on challenge of his lawyer Eka Beseliya was also written by him under pressure, the "News-Georgia" reports.

Giya Abdaladze believes that his detention and conviction was caused by shot and disseminated photos, showing how at night of May 26, 2011, Georgian Special Forces fighters disperse an oppositional rally, the "Echo of the Caucasus" reports.