TV channel head pardon “not connected” with EU integration - Justice Minister
Bregadze said the Government had ensured “all possible and tangible progress” on the country’s EU path since taking office in 2012. Photo: Justice Ministry press office
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Rati Bregadze, the Georgian Justice Minister, on Friday said he saw “no connections” between the pardoning of Nika Gvaramia, the head of the domestic Mtavari Arkhi TV channel, by President Salome Zourabichvili and the country’s efforts to meet the 12 priorities outlined by the European Union last year for granting Georgia its membership candidate status.
Zourabichvili’s pardoning of Gvaramia, who was convicted last year for improper commercial deals while at the helm of the Rustavi 2 TV channel in 2015 and 2019 and sentenced to three years and six months in prison, came on Thursday, shortly after the European Commission’s oral, interim report on Georgia’s progress in implementing the candidacy conditions.
Olivér Várhelyi, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, on Thursday said Georgia had “fully met” three of the conditions, “partially met” seven, showed “limited progress” on the deoligarchisation and “no progress” on media pluralism, following an informal meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Stockholm on Thursday.
In his press comments, Bregadze said the Government had ensured “all possible and tangible progress” on the country’s EU path since taking office in 2012, and was capable of addressing “all issues” related to its Euro-Atlantic integration in a “fairly short period of time” due to “coordinated work” of state agencies.
I believe all recommendations will be fully met in line with schedule. I do not believe the pardoning of Gvaramia to be connected with one of the conditions [on media pluralism]”, Bregadze said.
The European Commission is scheduled to present its final report on Georgia’s implementation of candidacy conditions in late October, which the European Council will use to decide on the country’s status in December.
Georgia officially applied for EU membership in March 2022.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Thursday pardoned 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 the Rustavi 2 channel.
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.
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.
Tbilisi court of appeals of Wednesday upheld the verdict of Tbilisi city court against the head of the Mtavari Arkhi TV channel Nika Gvaramia, keeping him in custody for charges of abuse of power in 2015 and 2019, during his time at the helm of Rustavi 2 channel.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Saturday said pardoning of Nika Gvaramia, the head of the domestic Mtavari Arkhi TV channel, by President Salome Zourabichvili was a “step taken against” the country’s efforts to fulfil the 12 priorities outlined by the European Union last year for granting Georgia its membership candidate status, including the depolarisation of the political environment in the country.
Rati Ionatamishvili, a member of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday responded to the announcement of Nika Gvaramia, the former Director of the Mtavari TV channel, of his entry into the domestic political scene by saying the former United National Movement official had “never left politics and the party”.