Sacked National Film Centre Director alleges Culture Ministry's "destructive actions" against body, will sue if not reinstated

Gaga Chkheidze, the former Director of the Georgian National Film Centre who was relieved of his position by Culture Ministry on Monday, has responded to allegations by the latter and said he will sue the Ministry if not reinstated, in addition to outlining a range of grievances about the treatment of the GNFC by the current Culture Minister.

In a post released on the GNFC social media page on Thursday before it was deleted on Friday, Chkheidze responded to the Ministry's statement from Monday, in which the national culture body announced he had been relieved of the position due to "misuse of funds", violation of state law on procurements, "potential cases of nepotism" and more.

Before the post was removed from the Centre's social media page, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Georgian service reported on its substance on Thursday, and recorded an interview with Chkheidze.

In his response to the Ministry's statement on a report that detailed the alleged violations at the cinema body under Chkheidze's leadership, the former GNFC Director said he would "prove my innocence at any instance [of court], as someone who is right has nothing to fear". The former head of the GNFC said he had written a letter to Minister Thea Tsulukiani with a request of reinstatement on the position, adding he would sue the Ministry if his request was not satisfied.

In comments alleging mistreatment of the Centre and himself by the Ministry since the appointment of Tsulukiani a year ago, Chkheidze said the Minister had requested the GNFC Director to agree all of his media appearances with her, before "blocking" several of the former Director's interviews.

Instead of [providing] assistance, support and cooperation, the Minister attempted, in every possible way, to diminish the role and function of the Centre

- Gaga Chkheidze, former Director of GNFC

The sacked head of the cinema body also said Tsulukiani's assistant had requested the Centre finance a film project by a filmmaker participating in one of the body's competitions. Chkheidze said after his explanation that "winners of the competition are decided by an invited commission and not the Centre itself", he had received an "order" from the Ministry to support the project with 100 percent financing in case of it winning the competition - a financing move which, he told RFE/RL, was also against regulations.

The former GNFC Director told RFE/RL he suspected one of the reasons for his sacking was his suspension of a process of bringing back rolls of Georgian cinema classics from Russian archives, a decision he had made due to the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine last month. Photo via Georgian National Film Centre

Chkheidze also told the media outlet the Ministry had left a majority of official letters addressed to it by the GNFC without reply, and "never provided information requested by us through official channels".

The relieved Director said the Ministry "frequently disrupted" the GNFC's carrying out of its function, called the culture body's actions "destructive", and said they "harm the country's image and the reputation of its government". Chkheidze also told the interview the actions "call into question the Culture Minister's competence" in governing a "complex field like culture".

In the original GNFC Facebook post, Chkheidze also said he would respond to the Ministry's specific allegations of misuse of finances and violations of state regulations in a separate post at a later time. In his interview with RFE/RL, he said the report by the financial inspection agency - used by the Ministry to sack him on Monday - was simply an "instrument" used for the decision.

The cinema professional told the media outlet he thought one of the actual reasons for his sacking was his decision to suspend the process of bringing back original rolls of Georgian cinema classics from the Russian state archives - launched in the recent years - due to the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine last month. Chkheidze said he had decided to halt the process as he deemed making payments to a Russian state organisation amid the conflict as morally wrong.

The Culture Ministry's allegation against the GNFC under Chkheidze's leadership said an investigation of the Centre's financials between 2019-2020 had revealed expenditures of financial resources in the period that had been "incompatible with law".

The statement from the national culture body also alleged "serious flaws" in the financial management system at the state cinema institution, as well as "systematic" violations of the state law on procurements, and "absence of a system of oversight".