Public Defender asks President to pardon jailed TV channel Director
Gvaramia was found guilty of causing a ₾6,763,509 ($2,239,572/€2,151,266) damage to Rustavi 2 between 2015-2019 through advertising deals, and of obtaining property using profits from the actions. Photo: Mtavari Arkhi TV.
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Nino Lomjaria, the Public Defender of Georgia, has addressed President Salome Zourabichvili with a request to exercise her power to pardon Nika Gvaramia, the Director General of Mtavari Arkhi TV channel who was sentenced to over three years in prison for abuse of powers last month.
The Public Defender’s Office published results of its study of the verdict of the case on Wednesday, considering the reasoning of the court “unfounded” in both conviction and sentencing.
In her comments Lomjaria referenced elements of the case relating to Gvaramia’s dealings over advertising sales of Rustavi 2 channel during his time as its Director, as well as to the media figure obtaining a vehicle using profits made through the deals.
In her study of the case, the Public Defender said “not all business decisions” could become subject of criminal evaluation by state authorities, noting the ruling was “inadmissible” without the court substantiating “personal interest, fraud, sole decision, or other criminal action”.
Referencing the second element of the case, Lomjaria said the court could have used a fine or house arrest, but had instead imposed the “severe punishment” of imprisonment. Her statement called the verdict against Gvaramia “essentially unfounded” due to the “extreme scarcity of legal reasoning, analysis and consistency”.
Lomjaria said her request for a Presidential pardon followed the “gross violation of the principle of legality - enshrined in the Constitution - as well as national and international laws” in the court ruling.
Gvaramia was found guilty of causing a ₾6,763,509 ($2,239,572/€2,151,266) damage to Rustavi 2 between 2015-2019 through advertising deals, and of obtaining property using profits from the actions.
Reporters and media managers of various media outlets held a rally in support of Nika Gvaramia, the founder of Mtavari Arkhi channel, who was sentenced to three years and six months in prison by Tbilisi City Court on Tuesday.
A discussion of the sentencing of Nika Gvaramia, the founder of Mtavari Arkhi channel and former Director of Rustavi 2, by Tbilisi City Court was held in a meeting between the United States Ambassador Kelly Degnan and representatives of Georgian media outlets on Wednesday.
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.
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.
Kelly Degnan, the United States Ambassador to Georgia, on Friday said any suggestion of the US interfering in the judicial process in Georgia was “simply not true”.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said president Salome Zourabichvili would “insult” her office by pardoning Nika Gvaramia, the imprisoned head of the Mtavari Arkhi TV channel, following calls by opposition politicians for the move.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the executive secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the statement by United States embassy lamenting court decision keeping Mtavari Arkhi TV director in imprisonment meant the diplomatic office had “admitted for the first time” the channel was a “party media” for the opposition.
Irakli Garibashvili, the Georgian Prime Minister, on Wednesday said the case involving Nika Gvaramia, the imprisoned head of the domestic Mtavari Arkhi channel who was convicted last year for improper commercial deals in 2015 and 2019 during his time at the helm of Rustavi 2 channel, was a matter of domestic courts and not the Government.