Georgian journalists get suspended sentences for spying

[News_Editor]

Georgian journalists get suspended sentences for spying

2011-07-23 04:13:47 GMT+7 (ICT)

TBILISI (BNO NEWS) -- Three Georgian photojournalists were given suspended sentences ranging from 18 months to four years by a city court in Tbilisi, the court's press service said on Friday.

The photojournalists, including Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's personal photographer Irakli Gedenidze and his wife, were detained on spying charges in early July. They were accused of providing sensitive information to an "organization operating under the patronage of a foreign state's intelligence service."

RIA Novosti reported that Gedenidze and his wife Natiya received suspended sentences of four years and 18 months, respectively. Their two colleagues - EPA correspondent Zurab Kurtsikidze and Georgian foreign ministry photographer Georgy Abdaladze - were given suspended sentences of three and four years, respectively.

Prosecutors had earlier requested suspended sentences for all the journalists on the grounds that they "provided the investigators with information of the utmost importance for Georgia's national security" during questioning.

After their detention, Georgia's opposition leader and former United Nations Ambassador Irakli Alasania said that it was alarming when photo correspondents and journalists are detained in a country where freedom of the press is seriously limited. A spokeswoman for the Georgian president, however, denied that the detention of the photojournalists was related to their professional activities.

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