Ruling party mayoral candidates sue opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi channel
Three ruling party mayoral candidates have sued the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi channel this month. Photo: netgazeti.
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The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) mayoral candidates in Kareli and Chiatura regions, Zaza Guliashvili and Givi Modebadze, have filed a lawsuit in Tbilisi City Court against the opposition-minded Mtavari-Arkhi TV channel and its head Nika Gvaramia for spreading fake information about them.
They are demanding 55,555 GEL in ‘symbolic compensation’ each ‘for the moral damage,’
Earlier this month, the ruling party mayoral candidate in Kutaisi, Ioseb Khakhaleishvili, also sued the channel with the same reason and demanded compensation.
Gvaramia served as a minister of justice and deputy prosecutor general under the United National Movement government.
He was the director of Rustavi 2 TV channel for two years from 2012, when the Georgian Dream coalition defeated the UNM in parliamentary elections, while from 2014 he became director general of the channel.
He was forced to leave the position after the verdict of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which ruled in favour of the former owner of Rustavi 2 in late July 2019.
Gvaramia has been charged with abuse of authority while in office and misspending of funds while in Rustavi 2 TV.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has condemned the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV company head Nika Gvaramia for ‘attacking’ the church in his news programme.
Opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi reported earlier today that its cameraman Levan Ablotia was thrown out of the second floor of the ruling Georgian Dream party headquarters in Kareli, in Shida Kartli region.
Former Director General of Rustavi 2 Nika Gvaramia, who previously served as the country’s minister of justice, has been summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office to be charged with the misspending of the funds of the channel which was returned to its former owner in July.
Bail has been set at 40,000 GEL for former director general of opposition-minded TV channel Rustavi 2, Nika Gvaramia, who stands accused of abuse of power during his time in the position. Gvaramia also has been banned from leaving the country without the consent of prosecutors, who earlier had demanded bail be set at 80,000 GEL.
The opposition United National Movement (UNM) is holding a rally in the western Georgian town of Zugdidi demanding to release Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. UNM mayoral candidate in Zugdidi Anzor Melia, who is the father of UNM chair Nika Melia said in his address to the party supporters that he is happy to be running for Zugdidi mayor.
The Head of the State Security Service of Georgia, Grigol Liluashvili, has filed a lawsuit against Mtavari Arkhi and Formula TV channels after the media outlets aired reports alleging links between him and the criminal case dating back to October and relating to fraudulent operations set up by a group of Georgian and Israeli citizens in Georgia.
Officers of the Special Investigation Service have arrested two individuals for their assault on a crew of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV channel in the western Georgian city of Zugdidi last month, Koka Katsitadze, the Head of the SIS, announced on Friday.
Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze on Thursday launched a legal dispute against the opposition-minded TV Pirveli channel and its journalist Maya Mamulashvili, seeking a ₾100,000 ($ 34,603) compensation for moral damage for a claim on the official obtaining personal benefits.
Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze on Friday said he would use the compensation from his ongoing lawsuit against the opposition-minded TV Pirveli channel and its journalist Maya Mamulashvili for the benefit of “the people who need it most”.