ECHR suspends Georgian Supreme Court ruling on Rustavi 2 TV case

The European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) has suspended Georgian Supreme Court ruling on replacement of the owner of the opposition Rustavi 2 TV – the TV company General Director, Nika Gvaramia stated.

“We have just recent information from Strasbourg. For the first time in its existence, the Strasbourg Court suspended execution of the Supreme Court ruling. Strasbourg Court has never resorted to such a measure before, except for the torture-related cases,” said Gvaramia.

Rustavi 2 TV company administration appealed to the ECHR with the request to suspend Supreme Court ruling (until the final judgment is delivered).

In Gvaramia’s words, the ECHR suspended the Supreme Court ruling until March 8, while the issue of allowing the claim to proceed will be considered.

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Georgian Supreme Court’s Grand Chamber delivered its judgment in the major opposition broadcaster-Rustavi 2 TV ownership case, ruling out to return it back to its former owner. 60% of company’s shares have been transferred to Kibar Khalvashi, 40 % – to Panorama LLC.

TV company administration, journalists, oppositional political parties and the major part of NGOs consider the claims laid by Kibar Khalvashi (who is believed to be government-loyal) as unsubstantiated, linking the judicial proceedings on TV company case to the government’s attempts to get hold of  the independent TV channel.