Court allows seizure of Rustavi 2 TV channel real estate

Tbilisi City Court has allowed the seizure of real estate of Rustavi 2 TV channel, according to the demand of the founders of the channel David Dvali and Jarji Akimidze. 

The two also demanded the seizure of a movable property of the channel. However, the court rejected the demand. 

Back in 2019 the same court ruled that 60 per cent of shares of the TV channel be frozen after the founders filed a lawsuit against current owner Kibal Khalvashi. 

Khalvashi, who stated his shares were illegally confiscated under the United National Movement leadership back in 2006, won the ownership dispute in the European Court of Human Rights in July 2019.

• Founders of Rustavi 2 TV ask for continued investigation into ‘illegal seizure’ of channel

Kibar Khalvashi (L), Jarji Akimidze and David Dvali (R). Photo: RFE/RL. 

Founder of Rustavi 2 Dvali and Akimidze say that their stake, 60 per cent of the shares of the company, were also illegally confiscated by the previous United National Movement government in 2004 and Khalvashi was involved in the process.

Dvali and Akimidze demanded the seizure of Rustavi 2 property after the current leadership of the channel announced in March 2021 that they had plans to create a holding with an online media outlet Prime Time to boost the channel’s incomes. 

Dvali and Akimidze said that the creation of the holding could have led to the sale of Rustavi 2 property or its transfer to someone else. 

In the first quarter of 2021 Rustavi 2 received two million GEL income in ads and took the second place among Georgian media outlets, followed by TV Imedi whose advertising revenue in the same period amounted to 5.3 million GEL.