PRAGUE (Reuters) – Czech authorities said a Czech journalist was detained on his arrival in Georgia to cover Saturday’s parliamentary election and its embassy in Tbilisi was taking steps to locate him.
Ray Baseley, who describes himself as a Czech-British freelance journalist on X, said in a post on the platform on Tuesday he was refused entry to Georgia “without reasoning or any further explanation”.
Baseley, who reports regularly from Georgia and Ukraine, had arrived to cover the Oct. 26 election which has been widely viewed as a test of whether Georgia returns to Russia’s orbit or maintains its pro-Western orientation.
The Czech Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday the country’s embassy in Tbilisi was taking steps to locate him.
“Our consul is in contact with his close ones and at the same time has sent an official note to the Georgian Foreign Ministry requesting (information about) his current location and explanation of the reason for his detention and denial of entry to Georgia,” the ministry said in an email.
Baseley has previously worked with Czech online news publication Forum24, which said on Wednesday that Georgian authorities took away Baseley’s phone and personal items and he had been out of contact since.
The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs had no immediate comment.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka, additional reporting by Felix Light in Tbilisi; Editing by Ros Russell)
