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Guriis Moambe to Be Left Without Space?

August 27, 2013
 
Nino Mshvidobadze, Guria

Several days ago, Ozurgeti municipal board made decision to unilaterally suspend agreement with the newspaper Guriis Moambe signed on July 12, 2012. Board chairman said that municipal board decided to make the decision after they received a letter from the Minister of Regional Development, where he requested the local authority to seek a space for statistics department.

Editor-in-chief of the newspaper Guriis Moambe and founder of the Guria Press-Club Vladimer Menabde addressed the chairman of municipal board with the following statement:

“We would like to notify you that we disagree with suspending our agreement in this form because conditions envisaged by paragraph 7.2 of our agreement were not observed. You cannot verify the particular necessity of this decision in this particular case. As for the circumstance you mentioned in your letter, as if you need a space for the National Statistics Service, it is not true and the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure did not confirm this information in his public statement. Since your letter shows that you do not have information about “free spaces” under ownership of the district authority, we would like to inform you about them located in the administrative building:

1. On the ground floor – former space for the Civil Registration Agency
2. On the ground floor – former space of the Voters’ List Verification Commission of the CEC
3. On the first floor – former space of the educational resource center
4. On the second floor – former space of the Ozurgeti District Election Commission # 60

Only in the administrative building, where you are working now, more than 800 sq. meters are free. 

Based on the aforementioned circumstances, I believe that purpose of your action is to damage your contractor person groundlessly that is inadmissible by the law.

We would like to notify that due to aforementioned reasons, Guria Press-Club Ltd is not going to leave the space,” the statement reads.

Humanrights.ge asked Ozurgeti district interim governor Kote Sharashenidze to comment on the issue.

“Lado Menabde is lying. He has signed agreement with the municipal board and it states the following: when district authority decides that the occupied space is necessary for state interests, the agreement will be ceased. We offered alternative space to Mr. Lado – nearby located three rooms. Currently he uses the property of the district administration and our decision cannot be evaluated as oppression on media. He [Menabde] presumable thinks that the building, where his office is located now, is his property but it is not true and we, in order to assist the newspaper to continue its activities without delay, offered him another space though in the same building. Civil Registration Agency was functioning in the space where Menabde’s newspaper is located now. The CRA assigned the space to the district administration as a gift and a year ago, former chairman of the municipal board signed agreement with Lado Menabdze. However, he did not pay taxes. Aleko Mameshvili gave preference to Guriis Moambe. As for the information spread by Menabde, as if Georgian Dream’s Ozurgeti office wants to occupy the space, apparently he does not know that political party cannot have office in the state building.”

Vladimer Menabdze told humanrights.ge that he did not have information about ceased agreement.

“I did not know anything; I thought this problem was settled when the former chairman of the municipal board resigned. I did not think if the new chairman would have acted like that. Today I am sure that municipal board chairman is under influence of Ozurgeti district governor. They say that they want the building for the Statistics Department; in fact according to our information, Ozurgeti district office of the Georgian Dream wants to move there,” said Menabde.

Menabde denies information about offering alternative space to him and claims that he had paid all taxes. 

“Nobody has offered an alternative space to me. Sharashenidze laid saying that I did not pay taxes; we implemented all our obligations in the agreement and paid taxes too.”

He added that Minister Davit Narmania stated on TV-Company Maestro that he was not going to expel media from the space. “With regard to intended census of Georgian population, as a Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, I wrote to every self-governmental bodies to allocate one room for the representatives of Georgian National Statistics Bureau if they had any vacant room in the administrative building in order to allow the service to work on the place until the census is over. Ozurgeti district administration also received my mail like all other district administrations; the text of my letter was equal but I did not demand the board chairman and district administration to exile the media outlet functioning in the room in order to give space to the statistic department.”

We had opportunity to obtain the agreement between the municipal board and Guriis Momabe, where one of the paragraphs states:

“Agreement may be early ceased by the space owner: the owner has right to unilaterally cease the agreement within one month period after informing the space owner if it is state or public necessity,” Menabde claims that Ozurgeti municipal board has breached this particular paragraph for what he has already appealed to the Court but thinks that municipal board will change its decision.

“I hope, the board chairman will annul its decision because municipal board has different approach to this issue and I hope for the support of majority,” Menabde said. 

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