Rights activists in the former Soviet republic have raised freedom-of-speech concerns over Thursday’s detentions of the three, including the personal photographer of President Mikhail Saakashvili. An Interior Ministry statement said they were accused of providing information to a special service of an unspecified foreign country to the detriment of Georgia’s interests.

Saakashvili’s spokeswoman said Friday that the three passed written documents to a spying network, and charges are yet to be filed. “I should make very clear: this case is about a serious infiltration of our institutions, not about journalism or media activities,” spokeswoman Manana Manjgaladze said in a statement.

Officials did not name the country involved but Georgia’s pro-Western administration has repeatedly accused arch foe Russia of running espionage operations on its territory, both before and after the war they fought in August 2008.

European Pressphoto Agency photographer Zurab Kurtsikidze, Foreign Ministry press center photographer Giorgi Abdaladze, and Gedenidze’s wife, local newspaper photographer Natia Gedenidze, are the others who were held.

Abdaladze’s lawyer described the accusations as “absurd.”

“As Abdaladze says, he didn’t have access to any state secrets, so he couldn’t have passed anything on,” lawyer Ramaz Chinchaladze told journalists.

A small group of journalists held a symbolic protest opposite the interior ministry building where the photographers were being held, wearing black blindfolds and holding hands in silence.

“This is a protest against the authorities who put pressure on the media, who are suffering from spy mania, who arrest journalists and don’t give a good reason for it,” radio station executive Mamuka Glonti said.