New York, March 9, 2006—A court in the breakaway region of Abkhazia has sentenced three Georgian filmmakers to three months in prison for espionage and illegally entering the self-declared republic in the northwest Caucasus, according to local and international press reports.
The filmmakers were tried and convicted on Tuesday evening by the Sukhumi City Court and a Georgian lawyer was not allowed to represent them, local media reported.
Journalists Tea Sharia, Georgii Sokhadze and Teimuraza Eliava entered Abkhazia, which declared independence after a 1992-93 war with Georgia, to make a film about local churches and monasteries in cooperation with the Georgian Orthodox Church. Sharia and Sokhadze are Georgian citizens and Eliava is a Ukrainian citizen originally from Georgia.
They were arrested on March 1 while filming at Bedia monastery in the Ochamchiri region. They were transferred to Sukhumi on the Black Sea coast March 4 and charged March 7 with espionage and entering the region illegally.
Abkhaz security officials accused the three of filming strategic sites such as bridges and railway stations.