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Georgia's Imedi national TV station brodcast a "fabricated" story where claiming a Spanish journalist had been arrested and had his belongings seized by the Russians in Abkhazia when, in fact, he had had his bag stolen in a Sokhumi coffee shop, reports Transparency International Georgia.

Journalist Francisco Martinez said the theft "could have happened anywhere in the world": but he found out that in Georgia even such mundane matters can be turned into propaganda battles.

When he crossed from Abkhazia into Georgian government controlled territory, Martinez was asked to wait by Georgian border guards who then called a local journalist who seemingly concocted a tale that Martinez's bag had been seized by Russian occupation troops after they had been arrested close to the line of control.

Imedi was taken over by Giorgi Arveladze, formerly Mikheil Saakashvili's chief of staff, last year in controversial circumstances. Since then it has competed with Rustavi 2 to be the most slavish of propaganda outlets for the president's regime.