Former Mtavari TV channel head “never left” politics, UNM opposition - ruling party MP

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”. 

In his comments, the lawmaker called Gvaramia’s comment that said the domestic public needed “novelties” in the country’s political scene “insulting considering the crimes committed by the Government” he had represented during his time in UNM.

Gvaramia was one of the leaders of UNM when he was portraying himself as a media manager. He never left politics - on the contrary, he was actively engaged in it”, Ionatamishvili said. 

In his comments this week, Gvaramia refused to identify the party he intended to join, only saying it would be “something new” to defeat the current Georgian Dream Government. 

Gvaramia served as the Deputy Prosecutor General, and also had spells as Justice and Education Minister, under the UNM Government between 2007 and 2009. He then led Rustavi 2 TV channel between 2012-2019, before the European Court of Human Rights ruled in July 2019 that 100 percent of the channel’s shares had to be returned to its former owners. 

Gvaramia founded the Mtavari Arkhi channel following the verdict the same year, but was convicted last year for improper commercial deals in 2015 and 2019, during his time at the helm of the Rustavi 2.

He was pardoned in June by President Salome Zourabichvili and quit as the Director of the outlet he had founded.