Ex-owners of TV Rustavi 2 initiate lawsuit against present shareholders
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"As Prime Minister and as a citizen, I fully support any kind restoration of justice but in my opinion this is a controversy of two subjects which should go before judges at the court,” Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told local media while responding to the developments about Rustavi 2, a privately owned broadcasting company.
The ex-owner of Rustavi 2, Georgian businessman Qibar Khalvashi, announced via his attorneys that he had initiated a lawsuit against the present shareholders of the company.
At a press conference at Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel in Tbilisi on August 5, Khalvashi's lawyers claimed their client purchased the broadcasting company for $7 million USD in 2004 but was forced under strong pressure of the Saakashvili-led government and ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili to concede his property to the new owner in December 2006.
The attorneys also stated that Khalvashi demanded a lein be instated on the company shares of the present owners.
The lawyers emphasized that the controversy was only about the share of ownership of Rustavi 2 and they guaranteed the editorial independence of Rustavi 2 journalists if Khalvashi won the case.
Meanwhile Rustavi 2 announced this evening that company-owned cars had been seized by Georgia’s National Bureau of Enforcement.
The ownership of Rustavi 2 has very controversial history.
"Between 2004 and 2012, Rustavi 2 changed owners approximately 20 times, often in controversial deals that had a political flavor, involving people with close links to [then] president Mikheil Saakashvili and to officials of the United National Movement-led government,” read a survey published by non-governmental organisation Transparency International Georgia.
The founders of the broadcasting company David Dvali and Jarji Akimidze also are preparing a lawsuit against the present owners of Rustavi 2. More details will be revealed next week, the pair revealed today.
Rustavi 2 was established in 1994 by three shareholders: Dvali, Akimidze and the late Erosi Kitsmarishvili, who was found dead in his car in an underground parking lot in his home in central Tbilisi on July 15, 2014. The Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia is still investigating this case.
Meanwhile Khalvashi moved to Germany in 2009 after he was granted political asylum.
Tbilisi City Court has five days to start a trial into the case.
Founder of Georgian television channel Rustavi 2 and ex-Mayoral candidate of Rustavi city, Erosi Kitsmarishvili, has been found dead in central Tbilisi.
The Chief Prosecutors Office of Georgia has released interim results of their investigation into claims the Rustavi 2 television company was bugged.
A statement made by the director of private broadcasting company Rustavi 2 TV, which has become the subject of a legal depute between its current and former owners two months ago, is causing a stir and gaining a range of assessments in Georgia.
"Even the most biased broadcasting policy can bring much less harm to the country than our partners’ questions with respect to media freedom in Georgia."
The Prime Minister stressed thanks to democratic reforms carried out under the Georgian Dream (GD) coalition, media in Georgia had become free from Governmental interferences and advanced to new, positive levels.
The director of the private broadcasting company Rustavi 2 Nika Gvaramia and the leader of opposition party United National Movement (UNM) Giga Bokeria approved the authenticity and content of recorded audio phone conversations with Georgia’s ex-president Saakashvili, which was published today by Ukrainian website www.uareview.in.ua.
Georgia’s State Security Service has addressed the Government of Ukraine today in connection to a phone conversation released last night that including threats of possible unrest and a coup in Georgia.
Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili held a special briefing this afternoon about the recently released audio recordings that encouraged an alleged coup in Georgia.
Tbilisi has officially sent a letter of protest to Ukrainian officials in Kiev denouncing the fact Georgia's ex-president and current Odessa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili encouraged an alleged coup in Georgia.
The United States (US) Embassy in Tbilisi says it is unacceptable for anyone to advocate for violence in politics.
Georgia’s Constitutional Court has accepted an appeal from Tbilisi-based privately owned broadcasting company Rustavi 2 and ordered a temporary suspension of a normal clause in the country’s Civil Code after a challenge against the clause by Rustavi 2 lawyers.
The verdict about the much anticipated Rustavi 2 case has been delivered today - Tbilisi City Court ruled the only legal owner of 100 percent of shares of the TV company was Qibar Khalvashi, the channel’s former owner.
Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Georgia Janos Herman says he is "concerned” by the recently leaked audio recordings.
Tbilisi City Court Judge Tamaz Urtmelidze delivered a verdict yesterday that temporarily deprived the Rustavi 2 current director Nika Gvaramia and financial director Kakha Damenia of their obligations.
A handful of members of the High Council of Justice of Georgia claim the judge leading the notorious Rustavi 2 ownership court case was repeatedly insulted, criticized and under serious pressure by local and foreign officials and figureheads during his time in court.
The Court of Appeals of Georgia upheld a previous ruling by Tbilisi City Court, which ruled the only legal owner of 100 percent shares of the private TV company was Qibar Khalvashi, the channel’s former owner.
Rustavi 2, a Tbilisi-based, private broadcasting company, announced the suspension of programming late last night. A case concerning the ownership of the TV channel is currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court.
Current Director General of one of Georgia’s largest TV channels, Rustavi 2 has offered to purchase the company's shares from its current owner Kibar Khalvashi.