International concern as Imedi TV’s broadcast license suspended for three months
By Nino Mumladze
Monday, November 19
President Mikheil Saakashvili must allow Imedi TV to resume broadcasts or risk tainting the January 5 presidential election, the station’s founder said on a US visit.
Speaking to RTVi TV on November 17, Badri Patarkatsishvili, who has declared his candidacy for president and is thought to be Georgia’s wealthiest man, also demanded equal air time for presidential campaigns.
While other independent TV networks were again allowed to broadcast news as emergency rule lifted on Friday, Imedi’s broadcast license will be suspended for at least three months.
The only way Saakashvili can now “save face,” Patarkatsishvili said, is to let Imedi back on air.
“Otherwise, he will the whole world that he’s in practice a dictator, and talk about transparent and democratic elections on January 5 will be seen as absolutely illegitimate by the whole world,” he told RTVi TV in Washington, the Capitol building visible behind him.
Imedi TV, slammed by deputy Prosecutor General Nika Gvaramia as a “tool in Patarkatsishvili’s hands,” is accused of contributing to an organized coup attempt on November 7 by airing statements inciting protestors to overthrow the government.
Hours before the president declared a state of emergency that night, station representatives say, Imedi TV was raided and ransacked by special forces officers.
Tbilisi City Court apparently ruled earlier on November 7 to suspend Imedi’s broadcast license, but station Imedi management were not informed until six days later.
In a document dated November 8, the Georgian National Communications Commission decided that the suspension, for “spreading obvious disinformation,” should last for three months. The decision was not made public until Friday, when emergency rule was lifted and other independent broadcasters were again allowed to air news reports.
Government officials charge that Imedi aired false reports of riot police preparing to storm the landmark Sameba cathedral, where some protestors had taken refuge after being dispersed from a nearby square.
Patarkatsishvili is wanted for questioning in his role in the alleged coup conspiracy, which authorities say was orchestrated by Russia.
Moscow has repeatedly—and unsuccessfully—petitioned Tbilisi to extradite Patarkatsishvili to Russia, the country where he made his fortune and is now wanted on fraud charges.
Patarkatsishvili currently is based largely out of London.
Speaking to the small Kavkasia television channel on Friday, Human Rights Ombudsmand Sozar Subari spoke of serious procedural violations in suspension of Imedi’s license, promising to reveal the details in his upcoming report.
And also on Friday, the Prosecutor General’s office released a purported recording of a tapped phone conversation between Patarkatsishvili and Imedi producer Giorgi Targamadze. That and other released recordings prove, deputy Prosecutor General Nika Gvaramia said, the Imedi TV founder “controlled Imedi editorial policy” even after handing over a controlling stake of Imedi shares to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp at the end of October. In a speech in the town of Kvareli on Saturday, Saakashvili launched a thinly-veiled attack on Patarkatsishvili, referring to the tycoon as “an evil which has a name.”
“Will you try to buy the Georgian people?” Saakashvili asked, before indirectly referencing Imedi TV. “You will fail. Will you try to fool the Georgian people with your machine of lies? You will fail.”
The closure of Imedi TV has provoked international concern.
On November 15, a US State Department spokesman said his government wants a “free, robust, independent media” in Georgia, particularly as voters here ready themselves for a presidential election and plebiscite on holding earlier parliamentary elections.
The next day, EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus Peter Semneby welcomed Tbilisi’s lifting of emergency rule and the accompanying media blackout, but made clear that Imedi cannot be overlooked.
“The European Union supports the resumption of Imedi’s broadcasts, and we continue to search for ways leading to settling this issue,” Semneby said.
The authorities, however, emphasize that the country does not need Imedi to guarantee free and fair elections.
Speaking to RTVi TV on November 17, Badri Patarkatsishvili, who has declared his candidacy for president and is thought to be Georgia’s wealthiest man, also demanded equal air time for presidential campaigns.
While other independent TV networks were again allowed to broadcast news as emergency rule lifted on Friday, Imedi’s broadcast license will be suspended for at least three months.
The only way Saakashvili can now “save face,” Patarkatsishvili said, is to let Imedi back on air.
“Otherwise, he will the whole world that he’s in practice a dictator, and talk about transparent and democratic elections on January 5 will be seen as absolutely illegitimate by the whole world,” he told RTVi TV in Washington, the Capitol building visible behind him.
Imedi TV, slammed by deputy Prosecutor General Nika Gvaramia as a “tool in Patarkatsishvili’s hands,” is accused of contributing to an organized coup attempt on November 7 by airing statements inciting protestors to overthrow the government.
Hours before the president declared a state of emergency that night, station representatives say, Imedi TV was raided and ransacked by special forces officers.
Tbilisi City Court apparently ruled earlier on November 7 to suspend Imedi’s broadcast license, but station Imedi management were not informed until six days later.
In a document dated November 8, the Georgian National Communications Commission decided that the suspension, for “spreading obvious disinformation,” should last for three months. The decision was not made public until Friday, when emergency rule was lifted and other independent broadcasters were again allowed to air news reports.
Government officials charge that Imedi aired false reports of riot police preparing to storm the landmark Sameba cathedral, where some protestors had taken refuge after being dispersed from a nearby square.
Patarkatsishvili is wanted for questioning in his role in the alleged coup conspiracy, which authorities say was orchestrated by Russia.
Moscow has repeatedly—and unsuccessfully—petitioned Tbilisi to extradite Patarkatsishvili to Russia, the country where he made his fortune and is now wanted on fraud charges.
Patarkatsishvili currently is based largely out of London.
Speaking to the small Kavkasia television channel on Friday, Human Rights Ombudsmand Sozar Subari spoke of serious procedural violations in suspension of Imedi’s license, promising to reveal the details in his upcoming report.
And also on Friday, the Prosecutor General’s office released a purported recording of a tapped phone conversation between Patarkatsishvili and Imedi producer Giorgi Targamadze. That and other released recordings prove, deputy Prosecutor General Nika Gvaramia said, the Imedi TV founder “controlled Imedi editorial policy” even after handing over a controlling stake of Imedi shares to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp at the end of October. In a speech in the town of Kvareli on Saturday, Saakashvili launched a thinly-veiled attack on Patarkatsishvili, referring to the tycoon as “an evil which has a name.”
“Will you try to buy the Georgian people?” Saakashvili asked, before indirectly referencing Imedi TV. “You will fail. Will you try to fool the Georgian people with your machine of lies? You will fail.”
The closure of Imedi TV has provoked international concern.
On November 15, a US State Department spokesman said his government wants a “free, robust, independent media” in Georgia, particularly as voters here ready themselves for a presidential election and plebiscite on holding earlier parliamentary elections.
The next day, EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus Peter Semneby welcomed Tbilisi’s lifting of emergency rule and the accompanying media blackout, but made clear that Imedi cannot be overlooked.
“The European Union supports the resumption of Imedi’s broadcasts, and we continue to search for ways leading to settling this issue,” Semneby said.
The authorities, however, emphasize that the country does not need Imedi to guarantee free and fair elections.