TBILISI, (Reuters) - Georgia pledged on Wednesday to hold a transparent trial of three photographers accused of spying for Russia, trying to soothe public anger and suspicion over the case.
President Mikheil Saakashvili’s personal photographer and two other photojournalists were arrested last week on suspicion of passing secret information to Russian intelligence, in the latest in a series of alleged espionage cases in the former Soviet republic.
Russia, which fought a brief war with Georgia in August 2008, has accused Saakashvili’s government of whipping up "anti-Russian hysteria" and Georgian journalists have protested over the official secrecy surrounding the case.
Media watchdogs have urged transparency, given continued concern among Georgia’s Western allies over the government’s commitment to media freedom since Saakashvili came to power on the back of the 2003 Rose Revolution.
"I can tell you that 95 percent of the court hearings over this case will be open to the public," Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told reporters.
"It’s not hysteria. We have proof. It’s not a secret that special services in Moscow are working against us."
The accused are Saakashvili’s personal photographer Irakli Gedenidze, Zurab Kurtsikidze of the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) and Giorgi Abdaladze, a freelancer who worked as a contract photographer for the Georgian foreign ministry.
RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE
Abdaladze and Gedenidze are charged with passing classified documents including the floor plan of the presidential building and routes and itinerary of Saakashvili’s trips to Kurtsikidze, who is accused of having contacts with Russian intelligence.
EPA has argued that much of what Kurtsikidze is accused of having on computer files at his home is precisely the kind of material he would be expected to have to cover an event.
The release of recorded telephone calls in which the accused discuss payment from EPA for pictures taken by Gedenidze and Abdaladze on a freelance basis — standard practice for international news agencies — only fuelled the confusion.
Abdaladze, who according to his lawyer called off a hunger strike on Tuesday, has alleged the three are victims of police revenge for taking pictures of the police dispersal of opposition protests on May 26 to make way for a military parade.
Merabishvili was unimpressed by the theory.
"It’s really stupid to think that we punished these photographers for their professional activities, whether for their pictures of the May 26 rally or anything else," he said.
The interior minister said police had "reliable information" that the accused were in contact with officers of the Russian military intelligence service known by its Russian acronym GRU.
He said telephone records indicated Kurtsikidze had spoken on numerous occasions with two men Georgian authorities have identified as GRU officers, and had met them. He offered no evidence that Kurtsikidze had passed on secret information.
"I can say that Kurtsikidze did not use the company he was working for, EPA, or any of their employees in his espionage activities," he added. "EPA has nothing to do with this case."
The three face between eight and 12 years in jail if convicted. Georgian courts last year had an average acquittal rate of 0.2 percent.
