Statement of the Prosecutor’s Office Concerning the Investigation over the Dissemination of Covert Video Recordings

სამართალი - 14:02, 01 Apr, 2016

2195

In consideration of the high public interest, we would like to inform the society that in the course of investigation over the dissemination of the explicit videos depicting private life of certain individuals, owing to the complexity and the importance of the case, the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia approached the US Embassy from the very outset requesting the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In particular, since the mentioned video recordings were uploaded on YOUTUBE and shared on FACEBOOK, as part of cooperation, in addition to the expertise and legal assistance requested, we asked our US counterparts to assign a highly qualified expert for sharing experience in the investigation process. The US authorities immediately expressed their readiness to provide assistance and guidance. Consequently, the representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States arrived in Georgia and has been consulting the special investigation team of the Prosecutor’s Office for past several days. Notably, theretofore the Prosecutor’s Office has been in an active cooperation with the competent US authorities remotely as per the emerging needs of the investigation.

Notwithstanding that we are limited in the possibility of disclosing the details of the ongoing investigation in the best interests of the case, we would like to provide brief information about the actions carried out as of today: the special investigation team composed of the officials from the Prosecutor’s Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security Agency, has carried out over 200 investigative and procedural actions. Precisely, with the view to identify the offenders, the investigation team has searched 25 various apartments in Tbilisi and seized the following items: 166 CDs and DVDs containing various information, 26 personal computers, 37 cellphones, 86 SIM cards, 53 memory cards, 5 external hard drives. 41 items seized have been inspected by the investigation; 59 items seized were submitted for ICT forensics examination; CCTV camera recordings have been requested from the buildings/premises of interest for investigation; 50 individuals have been interviewed in the capacity of witness. Moreover, 16 Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) requests have been submitted to the competent authorities of foreign states with the purpose of obtaining significant information for investigation; Georgian authorities are actively cooperating with their foreign counterparts in order to ensure the effective and prompt execution of the MLA requests.

We would like to remind the public that investigation is conducted over the encroachment upon information related to private life – the crime punishable under Article 157 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. The investigation covers the recent incidents of illegally obtaining, retaining and disseminating the videos containing sensitive private information in wider internet. Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, in active consultation with the representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), continues intense investigation with the aim to expose all persons linked to the crime concerned.

Herewith, we take this opportunity to express our gratitude to US Embassy in Tbilisi and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States for their continuous efforts and guidance in this investigation.