Journalists Blame Dedoplistskaro District Administration in Oppression

Correspondents for the online newspaper “Kiziki” blame officials of Dedoplistskaro municipality board in oppression. According to journalists, working in the region became impossible, because local officials are eager to beat journalists all the time. According to the editorial board of the newspaper, some correspondents refused to work for the newspaper because of unbearable conditions.

“They do not release public information; but it is the least problem for us. Officials of the Constitutional Security Department of Georgia watch us; they follow us everywhere and do not allow us to work. Dedoplistskaro district governor Levan Natroshvili threatened one of journalists with physical assault, unless he stopped publishing critical information about him. Family members of the journalists lost social allowance. They do not comment on the fact. They laugh at us and insult us permanently,” said correspondents for the online newspaper “Kiziki”.

Spokesperson of the Dedoplistskaro municipality board Ana Benashvili said the accusations of the journalists are groundless. However, she confirmed that working style of the journalists for “Kiziki” is completely unacceptable for the district administration. Benashvili say they do not release public information on journalists for that reason.

“Officials of the district administration do not like the method of their work. They wrote such things that a person might have a heart attack after reading them. When they work on materials, they give their own interpretations to the facts. They say uneducated people work at the district administration. If a young person is not employed, s/he will never gain experience. Nobody persecutes them; simply they do not behave well. We can cooperate with every normal person,” said Ana Benashvili.

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti office coordinator of the Human Rights Center, said part of society might really dislike the style of one concrete journalist. However, public officials should not deny journalist to release public information whether s/he is a good or bad journalist; and more over must not intimidate him/her.

“Dedoplistskaro district is not Gurjaani district where several news agencies work. Critical articles are not common for Dedoplistskaro district administration and they say the information about problems in their district should not exceed the district; it is provincialism. Public officials are obliged to endure similar situation under the law and they must not interfere in the professional activities of journalists,” said Gela Mtivlishvili.

Source: Kakheti News Center