Verdict delivered: Court says owner of Rustavi 2 is ex-owner Qibar Khalvashi

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.

Tbilisi City Court Judge Tamaz Urtmelidze announced the verdict this evening and said 60 percent of the company shares would go to Khalvashi while the remaining 40 percent would need to be registered under the name Panorama LTD, the company owned by Khalvashi.

Meanwhile Judge Urtmelidze did not fully satisfy Khalvashi’s claim, specifically the part where he fought for the copyright of the company’s logo and other intellectual properties. His claims about financial compensation from the current owners were also rejected.

Moments after the verdict was announced, the defenders – the current owners of Rustavi 2 – said they "did not expect more” from Judge Urtmelidze as they believed the judge was "strongly biased” against Rustavi 2.

Lawyers representing the TV channel said they would certainly appeal the decision to a higher court. They also said Judge Urtmelidze reached a very "unprofessional” decision and stated he had "committed career suicide” today with the verdict.

Meanwhile director general of the TV company Nika Gvaramia said today’s verdict "meant nothing” for those who were employed at Rustavi 2, in reference to an announcement made yesterday by the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court yesterday ordered a temporary suspension of a normal clause in the country’s Civil Code, which said a court of the first instance was eligible to order an immediate enforcement of a court verdict even if the verdict was appealed. This meant Tbilisi City Court was not able to order an immediate enforcement of today’s verdict.

Earlier Khalvashi said if he won the lawsuit none of the "professional employees” of the company would lose their jobs.

In Court today the judge only announced the factual verdict. His motivations for arriving at that verdict must be explained within a month from today.

Khalvashi’s lawyer said they would discuss the verdict, after which they might also appeal the parts of the lawsuit which were not satisfied today.

Read more details of the controversial case here.