European Parliament Bans Imedi TV for One Year; Moldova Bars Three Georgian Channels
By Messenger Staff
Friday, May 15, 2026
The European Parliament suspended pro-government Imedi TV's accreditation and filming permits for one year after the channel's crew filmed Lithuanian MEP Rasa Jukneviciene without consent on May 6 and aired the footage on May 10. The decision also referenced a formal warning from April for a similar breach during the March plenary session.
The footage was part of a piece critical of a draft EP resolution on Georgia that included an amendment condemning Imedi and PosTV for spreading "systematic disinformation and hostile propaganda against the EU." The segment showed the crew approaching and following Jukneviciene, who drafted the report, through EP corridors as she declined to speak.
Imedi also reported that Moldova denied accreditation to Imedi, Rustavi 2, and POSTV to cover the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers session in Chisinau on May 14-15, without providing reasons. Imedi had previously been denied entry to Moldova to cover elections in September 2025.
Georgian Dream Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili dismissed the ban as "an attempt by various foreign powers to close down free media in Georgia," linking it to the UK's earlier sanctions on Georgian media outlets. He said Brussels was "afraid of the truth" and accused the EU of spending millions on "propaganda against the interests of Georgia" that was "not working." He singled out Jukneviciene, saying she "is distinguished by her fascist statements towards the Georgian people," and called the ban a continuation of hostile policy toward Georgian media. "Since they cannot carry out this threat in any other way, they are now trying to make a small sting in free media within their own narrow circle," he said.
Papuashvili also turned the episode into a policy argument. Noting that Georgian Parliament accreditation rules are "10 times lighter" than the EP's, he said he was considering tightening them to match European Parliament standards, including requiring prior consent for interviews and longer suspension periods for violations. Under current Georgian rules, a first violation carries a one-month suspension, and a repeat offense carries six months. "For how long has Imedi been suspended? For one year. Good, we will think about this too," he said.
Papuashvili also called out what he described as EU hypocrisy:
"You must understand what hypocrisy reigns in the European Parliament, in Brussels, amongst the hypocrites sitting in the EU Embassy, the very people who criticised the Georgian Parliament, who made it a target of attack, for attempting to establish the most basic rules for media conduct within its chambers; rules which, as it turns out, are ten times more lenient than those of the European Parliament."
