Mtavari Arkhi TV accuses ruling party of attacking cameraman, latter denies
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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.
Journalist Beka Korshia, who accompanied the cameraman, says the ruling party representatives were hostile from the very beginning.
[When] we came to the Georgian Dream headquarter in Kareli, we were met with aggression, there was also a physical confrontation; we have everything recorded. He was indeed thrown out. Police came very late. I was also the subject of physical offense”, Beka Korshia told Mtavari Arkhi TV.
However, ruling party mayoral candidate in Kareli, Zaza Guliashvili denies the accusations, saying Levan Ablotia was not thrown out from the balcony, but instead fell down the stairs himself.
Ruling party MP Mamuka Mdinaradze also stated that journalist Beka Korshia was trying to ‘stage cameraman were forced to leave the headquarters, when the latter fell down the stairs.
Ablotia, who was taken to local hospital, has several bruises and fractures. The investigation is underway.provocation’ by assaulting ruling party representatives. Mdinaradze said, this is why he and the
Georgian media outlets have received files allegedly leaked from the country’s State Security Service (SSS), which contain personal data on clerics. The media outlets received a link to the files earlier today from ‘Hakim Pasha,’ titled 'Georgian State Security Sevice’s compromising materials against Patriarchate.’
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that Mtavari Arkhi TV, which used his ID number to register Garibashvili for the second shot of the coronavirus vaccine without his consent, ‘is shameful’. “Yesterday Mtavari Arkhi TV committed yet another lie and provocation… They used my ID number and registered me for the second shot of [the coronavirus] vaccine without my consent ”, Garibashvili said.
Mtavari Arkhi TV has asked the Prosecutor's Office to launch an investigation into an incident that involved Thea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia, taking a microphone away from the channel's reporter on Thursday, with a video of the incident going viral on local social media channels.
Opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi cameraman Levan Ablotia, who received injuries in the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party office in Kareli yesterday, has dismissed the allegations of the channel head Nika Gvaramia that he was thrown out of the second floor by GD activists.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has stated that ‘very serious provocations’ from the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party are expected ahead of the October 2 local elections. Garibashvili responded to the head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Irakli Kobakhidze’s recent statement regarding the possible provocations from UNM and stated that he shares the fellow party member’s opinion.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party has released a video depicting opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi cameraman Levan Ablotia, ‘walking freely at the time the channel claimed he was unconscious.’
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.
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.