NEWS

Court rejects Rustavi 2 TV founders’ claim against current owner for 60% of shares

Two founders of Rustavi 2 TV channel filed a lawsuit against the current owner of the channel back in 2019. Photo: Rustavi 2.

Agenda.ge, 08 Dec 2021 - 16:32, Tbilisi,Georgia

Tbilisi City Court has rejected the claim of two founders of Rustavi 2 TV, David Dvali and Jarji Akimidze, against the channel’s current owner to regain 60% of the company's shares.

Dvali and Akimidze, who founded Rustavi 2 TV back in 1994, filed a lawsuit against current owner Kibar Khalvashi in October 2019 after Khalvashi won the channel ownership dispute at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in July 2019.

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

They said that their 60 percent of the shares were also illegally confiscated by the previous United National Movement (UNM) government in 2004 and Khalvashi, who was connected with that government, was involved in the process.

After today’s trial Akimidze said that he was ‘shocked’ by the verdict, stating that it ‘will definitely be appealed.’

Earlier lawyers of Dvali and Akimidze said that Khalvashi won the ownership dispute in ECHR as he proved that his shares were illegally confiscated under the UNM government in 2006, while Akimidze and Dvali also suffered the same fate back in 2004.

After regaining 100 equity in Rustavi 2, Khalvashi said that he was ready to return 40 percent of the shares to Akimidze and Khalvashi, which the two refused to accept.

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David Dvali and Jarji Akimidze, the founders of Rustavi 2 TV channel in 1994, have filed a lawsuit against the current owner Kibar Khalvashi after Khalvashi won the channel ownership dispute at the European Court of Human Rights back in July 2019. Dvali and Akimidze say that their 60 per cent of the shares were also illegally confiscated by the previous United National Movement government in 2004 and Khalvashi was involved in the process.

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The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has said it will appeal the Tbilisi City Court’s decision to change the qualification in its sentencing of Nika Gvaramia, the founder of the Mtavari Arkhi channel and former General Director of the Rustavi 2 channel, after the delivery of the verdict on Monday.