Shortly before 8 p.m. yesterday evening, Imedi TV resumed broadcasting after being shut down in a police raid on November 7, a day of civil unrest in Tbilisi.

The station began by airing an optimistic montage, set to a song about the return of hope and interspersed with footage of rallying children, of events surrounding its closure. It then aired footage from November 7, ending with Giorgi Targamadze, Imedi TV’s director of public and political programs, stating, “And here are our guests,” just as special forces troops burst into the studio and the transmission is cut.

The camera then switched to Targamadze live in the studio yesterday. “Imedi is back on Georgian television. The uninvited guests left the studio, and the real hosts of this place—news presenters Sopo and Giorgi—are back. I hope they will be the last Georgian journalists forced out of the studio by guns,” he stated.

After the crackdown on protestors on November 7 the government accused Imedi TV of airing statements inciting the violent overthrow of the state. The station was raided, ransacked and had its broadcast license suspended for three months.

However, after repeated criticism from foreign governments as well as the EU, OSCE and Polish media activist Adam Michnik, the station’s license was returned last week.

Station management say equipment damage done in the police raid kept the station off air until now.

Targamadze had earlier announced that Imedi TV will file a lawsuit against the Georgian government in the European Court of Human Rights, as the station does not trust the Georgian judiciary to be objective when handling the case.

He said that “very serious” allegations would be made against the government, adding that the damage the station sustained when it was forcibly shutdown was extensive.

“We had a lot of personal belongings [in the offices]. Everything which could be taken was stolen from my own office, and other journalist were robbed in the same way. This was robbery,” Targamadze said, according to the news agency Kavkaz–Press.

Speaking at a press conference on December 11, Targamadze said that Georgia is undergoing a process of “Putinization,” overseen by ruling party leader and former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is running for reelection on January 5.

“Georgia does not have independent courts, the supreme legislative body of parliament performs only symbolic functions and the administration interferes with media companies’ assets,” Targamadze said, adding he hopes Georgia will someday become a democratic country.

Targamadze also accused the government using a combination of intimidation and financial incentives to try and lure Imedi journalists away from the channel, singling out newly appointed State Minister for Refugees and Resettlement Koba Subeliani as the “most active” government official approaching journalists.

“Just now while we are talking here, pressure on Imedi journalists continues. They are promised huge salaries, good positions in the government and some are even blackmailed.”

Recently a number of journalists have left the channel, including popular anchor Inga Grigolia, who said she resigned when Badri Patarkatsishvili—the station’s founder and co-owner—announced he would run for president.

Targamadze also claimed that the official reasons departing journalists gave for leaving Imedi were given of fear of government reprisals.

“When you are threatened with the murder or imprisonment of your families, it’s very difficult to bear. However Imedi’s broadcasting will continue with almost all our previous staff,” he said.

Targamadze also said he has been blackmailed and pressured by the government for the past two or three years, claiming that a high ranking Interior Ministry official had informed him of an apparent foreign plot against his life, and offered him protection.

“He offered me protection but I refused because I knew the story wasn’t true, that it was simply an attempt to break me psychologically,” Targamadze said.

He also said that the TV station had no shortage of journalists, despite the recent resignations.

Speaking about the police raid on November 7, Targamadze said it came as a shock to Imedi management.

“We were expecting the state of emergency, reducing the TV channels broadcasting, but we have never thought that there would be an attack by armed forces without any warning,” he said.