“Following intensive counter-intelligence operations conducted over the past several months by the Counter-Intelligence Department of the State Security Service (SSSG), one Georgian citizen has been arrested on charges of espionage; specifically, the gathering and transmission of information to foreign intelligence service operatives,” the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) stated at a briefing.
According to the SSSG, evidence obtained through various investigative measures, including covert ones, establishes that a senior public official employed at one of the state agencies had been systematically gathering information and passing it to foreign intelligence services, acting against the country’s interests and exploiting both their current position, previously held posts, and personal connections across various institutions.
“The detainee maintained systematic, highly organised clandestine contact with a representative of a foreign intelligence service. Meetings were arranged using encrypted two-way communications and held at various locations, with strict adherence to pre-agreed conspiratorial conditions. Information was transmitted both through direct personal contact and by electronic means. The intelligence passed to the foreign service encompassed classified material across several categories, relating to ongoing political and economic processes in Georgia, the situation within the security and law enforcement agencies, information concerning ethnic and religious minorities, and other data of interest to those commissioning the intelligence.
Furthermore, evidence establishes that, at the direction of the foreign intelligence representative, the detainee had also been working to establish media platforms to recruit journalists and, through this network, to gather intelligence of interest to the foreign service, including information related to other countries in the region. The accused carried out these activities for personal financial gain. The investigation is being conducted under Article 314, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which provides for a custodial sentence of between eight and twelve years,” the SSSG stated.
