Georgian President calls for maintaining status quo around Rustavi 2 TV until the Constitutional and European Court deliver their judgments
Georgian President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, released a special statement with regard to the court ruling on the opposition Rustavi 2 TV case, calling on all parties, in view of political importance of the matter, to refrain from making ‘hasty steps’ until the Constitutional and European Court on Human Rights issue their rulings.
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 owners. 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.
According to Nika Gvaramia, Rustavi 2 TV General Director, the broadcaster is going to appeal to the Georgian Constitutional Court, as well as to the European Court on Human Rights, with the demand to suspend execution of the Supreme Court ruling.
In the Georgian President’s words, he cannot interfere in the TV company ownership dispute. However, as he added, Rustavi 2 TV, equally as any other media, ‘is not just a business’, but rather represents a very important component in country public and political life.’
“Rustavi 2 TV is a medium for expressing government-critical and contrary opinions, which is important for Georgia’s European future. Rustavi 2 TV theme was raised practically at all meetings that I held with the international partners and I expressed my position in this regard. The international community doesn’t view Rustavi 2 TV case as a judicial dispute, but rather as the issue of freedom of speech,” President Margvelashvili stated.
Georgian Government’s Administration also released a statement with regard to Rustavi 2 TV case. In particular, the Government called on the public ‘to respect the democratic institutions’, reminding that the judicial dispute around TV company proceeded amidst ‘a burdensome legacy’ related to violation of the ownership right.
19 leading non-governmental organizations expressed concern about the Supreme Court’s ruling. As it is pointed out in their statement, ‘the delivered judment restricts the freedom of speech and poses risk to the process of Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration.”
