Vice Prime Minister: Mtavari Arkhi channel founder sentence means his actions no longer “presumed”

The verdict of the Tbilisi City Court, which this week sentenced Nika Gvaramia, the founder of Mtavari Arkhi channel, to three years and six months in prison, means the actions of the former Rustavi 2 channel Director are “no longer presumed,” Georgian Vice Prime Minister and Culture Minister Thea Tsulukiani said on Wednesday.

Tsulukiani was speaking on the sentencing of Gvaramia on the charges of causing a ₾6,763,509 ($2,239,572/€2,151,266) damage to Rustavi 2 between 2015-2019, with the former channel Director’s supporters and a part of the political opposition claiming political persecution in the verdict.

The Court decision also said the sentence “should be served not on probation but in prison,” Tsulukiani noted, adding Gvaramia had a constitutional right to appeal, which he was expected to use.

“He was able to embezzle up to seven million lari in property rights in favour of the company he founded, and his own interests. If this is not a crime, then I do not know what is,” Tsulukiani added.

The Georgian official also commented on the recurring question of a possible pardoning of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, saying she was not expecting President Salome Zourabichvili to make an “unfair, unfounded” decision to pardon Saakashvili.

Zourabichvili has previously said she will not offer a pardon to the former President, who had been found guilty of abuse of power in two cases in absentia in 2018, and was arrested following his clandestine return to Georgia last year. Saakasvili faces additional charges including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal and illegal border crossing.