Ruling party head: TV channel head pardon - “step taken against” depolarisation, EU priorities

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.

Zourabichvili’s pardoning of Gvaramia, who was convicted last year for improper commercial deals while at the helm of the TV channel Rustavi 2 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. 

In his press comments, Kobakhidze noted there were “no connections” between the pardoning of Gvaramia and the fulfilment of the EU recommendations, adding the ruling party would “make detailed explanations” regarding the implementation of the 12 recommendations to the Georgian society and international partners.