Georgian TV channel Formula fined $3,810 over defamation
Tbilisi City Court has upheld a lawsuit filed by film director Goga Khaindrava against the Georgian TV channel Formula, ordering the broadcaster to pay him 10,000 lari ($3,810) in compensation for moral damages.
The case concerns an investigative report aired by the programme Saturday Formula, which alleged a corruption scheme and the possible illegal entry of foreign nationals into Georgia. Khaindrava described the report as a false accusation and defamatory, and took the case to court.
The judge ruled entirely in Khaindrava’s favour. The court ordered Saturday Formula to retract the disputed claims and pay compensation for moral damages.
The dispute stems from a report broadcast in January 2024. It alleged that Goga Khaindrava may have helped foreign nationals enter Georgia in exchange for payment by submitting lists of names to the relevant authorities to facilitate their entry.
The same report is also the subject of a separate criminal investigation into an alleged false accusation. As part of that investigation, Saturday Formula presenter Davit Kashiashvili, the report’s author Natuka Lomadze and cameraman Misho Markashvili have all been questioned.
Formula’s lawyer, Eto Katamadze, described the court’s ruling as unfounded. She said the broadcaster would exhaust all available domestic legal remedies before potentially taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
“What happened was exactly what we expected — the court fully upheld Goga Khaindrava’s claim and ordered us to pay compensation for moral damages. We believe that free and responsible journalism should not be punished in this country,” Katamadze said.
She added that the investigation should answer the questions raised in the report and warned that the ruling could become a basis for increasing pressure on investigative journalism.
Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office said it opened an investigation on 16 June 2026 into a possible false accusation under Article 373(1) of the Criminal Code. The investigation followed a complaint filed by Goga Khaindrava’s lawyers, who alleged that the TV channel Formula had committed an offence against their client.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Khaindrava has already been questioned as a witness, and investigators plan to carry out further investigative measures.
Formula’s representatives argue that the court issued its ruling before the competent authorities had reached a final conclusion on the disputed facts.
“We do not know whether the information that was published was true. It is for the competent investigative authorities to determine that, and journalists should not be held liable for carrying out their primary duty — reporting information,” Eto Katamadze said.
According to the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, Georgia fell from 114th to 135th place out of 180 countries.
Formula TV fined 10 000 lari
