Ex-Soviet Police Chief Charged With Setting Up A 'Gay Surveillance Honeytrap'
Footage would then allegedly become a crowbar on the subjects, the possibly publicity of which forced them to the will of the Military Police Department, reports Civil.ge a daily news website in Georgia.
From Civil.ge:
“In the course of the investigation it has been established that upon instructions from former head of the Military Police Department, Megis Kardava, senior officials of this department were gathering information about sexual minority men, secretly and illegally filming their private lives,” Prosecutor’s Office said.
The report continues to say the the homosexual 'agents,' recruited under illegal means, had apartments already rigged with surveillance equipment.
According to a separate report by Rustavi 2, a popular broadcast and news company in Georgia, said the targets were "famous figures in order to blackmail these persons afterwards and involve in various PR activities arranged by the previous government."
They also noted that Megis Kardava is outside the country, and that none of the surveillance video has entered the court process yet.
According to the disgraced police chief's lawyer, "Kardava categorically denies he had ordered video recording of sexual activities of sexual minorities."
The revelations come as a part of an investigation into torture allegations against Kardava.
The carte-blanch behavior highlights a broader problem of corruption and concentrated power in Post-Soviet bloc countries. According to an independent research paper by Freedom House, a nonprofit organization which tracks civil liberties, the newer "EU" countries that broke off from the collapsed Soviets have come a long way, but still suffer from forms of authoritarianism and corruption.