On November 3, the European Union issued a statement and addressed the Tbilisi Court of Appeal's decision to uphold the jail sentence of Nika Gvaramia, the head of Mtavari Arkhi TV, and stated that it had been closely watching this situation.
The statement highlighted the Public Defender's evaluations of the case while stating that the EU does not comment on the merits of individual Court cases and that stronger effort to guarantee a free, professional, pluralistic, and independent media environment, particularly by ensuring that criminal procedures brought against media owners fulfill the highest legal standards represents one of the priorities identified by the European Commission.
The statement from the EU underscored its continued support for the Georgian government's efforts to reform the judiciary with an emphasis on the independence, openness, and quality of judicial proceedings vital for sustaining the rule of law.
Response from Georgian Dream
On the same day, Davit Matikashvili, a parliamentary majority member, responded to the statement released by the European External Action Service regarding Nika Gvaramia and said that it is good that the processes are being observed; however, the observation should not turn into interference.
According to him, the court makes decisions independently. "I would like to remind our partners about the process regarding Rustavi 2, which ended a few years ago and caused a great stir. After each court session, the public heard numerous statements about bias, interference, etc. However, this process in the Supreme Court of Georgia, which later went to the European Court, ended with the fact that the proceedings of the Georgian court turned out to be completely correct. All those statements, concerns based on perceptions, etc., turned out to be uninformative lies because there were no arguments behind them," Matikashvili added.
Importantly, Nika Gvaramia, the founder of Mtavari TV, was found guilty by the Tbilisi Court of Appeal. As a result, the three years and six months of incarceration that the Tbilisi City Court had imposed on him were still in effect.
Read also:
Ruling Party on US Embassy's Response regarding Decision on Nika Gvaramia
US Embassy in Georgia Condemns Tbilisi Court of Appeals Decision to Uphold Nika Gvaramia's Sentence
