Journalists’ Rights Violated in Kakheti

Journalists’ Rights Violated in Kakheti

Tbilisi.26.04.05. Media News. Public Defender Sozar Subar has commented on the actions used against journalists in the region of Kakheti and advised the local government to act carefully in regard to the freedom of speech.

On the 19th of April the entire circulation of the local newspaper Spectrum was taken from the trading network in Kakheti, and on the 21st of April the same was done with the newspaper 24 Hours. The employees of the Spectrum had to distribute the newspaper themselves to organizations and individuals with subscriptions.

According to the local media, the sale of these newspapers was blocked by the Telavi gamgeoba. It seems that the officials did not like articles published in these papers because some of them covered an incident of the misappropriation of 132 000 lari allotted for the region.

For the last year, state funds allotted for various unprotected layers of society had been used by members of the gamgeoba for their own benefit. The report on these violations made by the Control Chamber was sent to the General Prosecutor’s Office two months ago, though, as was mentioned in the suppressed articles of 24 Hours and Spectrum, nobody from the Prosecutor’s Office ever came to Telavi.

The Public Defender believes that the control of media is inadmissible and that such cases should not occur in democratic countries.

Last week journalist Marina Gogoladze from the TV station Imedi was offended in Lagodekhi. She has accused Mikhail Kakalishvili, member of the National Movement and local activist, of assaulting her.  According to Gogoladze, Kakalishvili tried to suffocate her, then forcefully took a cassette from her and destroyed the material recorded on it. Kakalishvili has denied these charges. A criminal case has been launched, and the investigation is currently underway.

By order of Public Defender Sozar Subar, impartiality in the investigation will be controlled by his representative in Kakheti region, Nodar Sephiashvili.