On November 2, the Tbilisi Court of Appeal upheld widely believed politically motivated charges against the Director General of the opposition TV Mtavari channel which includes 3 years and 6 months imprisonment time under the criminal code.
The decision has fueled concerns that Georgian Dream has no will to seriously work on the European Commission’s 12 recommendations set as pre-condition for Georgia to be granted the block’s candidate tatus.
One of the recommendations specifically deals with media freedom and prosecution of media owners, calling Georgia for “Undertaking stronger efforts to guarantee a free, professional, pluralistic and independent media environment, notably by ensuring that criminal procedures brought against media owners fulfill the highest legal standards.”
Mr Gvaramia was jailed by Tbilisi City Court, amongst other counts, for allegedly using corporate car of Rustavi2, a private TV company of which Mr Gvaramia was also a CEO until its ownership was granted to a pro-Georgian Dream businessman by the Georgian court.
The ruling has also caused storm of criticism amongst Georgia’s partners and domestic critics.
“The Court used imprisonment as a punishment against Nika Gvaramia for the action, which, in its content, is covered by civil law and there is no evidence in the criminal case that would prove the action to be criminal,” Georgia’s Public Defender, Nino Lomjaria has said in a statement, reiterating her earlier appeal to Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili to pardon Gvaramia.
“This kind of political persecution of the critics of the government under Garibashvili is putting Georgia's European perspective at risk”, MEP Rasa Juknevičienė said.
Another MEP and Poland’s former Foreign Minister, Anna Fotyga also joined the voices of concern and stated that “the politically motivated persecution and further deterioration of media freedom in Georgia are unacceptable.”
The former US Ambassador to Georgia, Ian Kelly believes that Gvaramia’s imprisonment is “yet another step backward and there is no forward momentum.”
The US Embassy to Tbilisi published a statement saying that “at a time when Georgia’s commitment to an impartial judiciary and media pluralism is being closely reviewed, the continued imprisonment of Nika Gvaramia, puts at risk the clear choice of the people of Georgia – and Georgian leaders’ stated goal – for a more secure, democratic European future.” They have also questioned the timing and charges as well as the conviction and sentence.
Georgian NGOs issued a joint statement calling Mr. Gvaramia’s imprisonment is ‘politically motivated’ aiming to “To punish Nika Gvaramia and disrupt the activities of a critical media outlet.
“The flawed administration of justice significantly affects and degrades the existing media environment and standards of protection of human rights and freedoms in general, further deepens the polarization in the country, as well as contradicts the spirit of the EU’s 12-point requirements and fails to ensure stable democratic development,” eight Georgian NGOs, including Transparency International – Georgia and the Atlantic Council of Georgia said in a statement.
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