4 detained for possession, distribution of private footage released on bail
All the eighteen individuals who were detained in February 2019 for the possession and distribution of private footage have been released on bail.Photo: Radio Liberty.
Tweet 
Share
Four individuals detained back in February 2019 for the possession and distribution of the personal footage of MP Eka Beselia, have been released on bail after the request of the Prosecutor’s Office to the court.
The prosecution requested the bail after uncovering new evidence, which was followed by the suspension of the pre-trial detention of Zaal Lataria, Zurab Solomnishvili, Temur Iremadze and Anton Glonti.
The individuals have been released on 5,000 GEL [$1,900] bail.
The footage was released again on Tuesday and a minor was detained, Deputy Interior Minister Natia Mezvrishvili said, claiming that the offence had no client.
Beselia has demanded the uncovering of the masterminds behind the release in a month’s time.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze stated earlier today that police reacted immediately to address the offence.
He said that cybercrimes are a challenge for many developed countries and it is complicated to track such offences and detain those that organize the release of such footage
Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia says that foreign specialists might be invited to help Georgian law enforcers investigate the crime.
Eighteen individuals were detained for the possession and distribution of the private footage of Beselia in February 2019.
Four out of 18 detained were sent to pre-trial detention, while 14 have been released on bail. Now all the individuals are released on bail.
Recording, storing and distributing footage related to an individual's personal and intimate life is a crime which is punishable by imprisonment from four to eight years.
One person has been detained for uploading the private footage of a Georgian politician on YouTube late yesterday, Deputy Interior Minister Natia Mezvrishvili said. She stated that the individual had no private motivation to upload the video, and, consequently, the crime had no client.
The Georgian Interior Ministry is very likely to request help from foreign partners to investigate leak of a private life footage, featuring Georgian Dream MP Eka Beslia.
Georgia Dream ruling party member Eka Beselia, who left the post of the head of the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee at the end of December, says that she is facing a moral terror as footage of her personal life has gone viral.
Through cooperation with Facebook administration the MIA has found out that the accused had been registered on Facebook under the user name Buba Lomtatidze and has released personal footage for several times in January.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has detained an individual for illegally filming and secretly keeping a video depicting the private life of a female acquaintance in the eastern Georgian municipality of Marneuli.