On December 6, Imedi TV officials accused the government of deliberately drawing out the process of lifting broadcast restrictions on the station, after it emerged that technical staff would not be allowed on the premises until today, when a court ruling unfreezing Imedi’s assets comes into force.

“Initially, [the government] had pledged to let us in on December 5, but now this has been postponed until tomorrow. They are deliberately dragging out the process,” Bidzina Baratashvili, managing director of Imedi TV, told news source Civil.ge.

He later said that, while top executives of Imedi TV and Radio Imedi had been permitted to enter the premises, they had refused, citing camera restrictions which they said would prevent them from recording the technical damage the station sustained when it was shut down.

On December 3, acting president Nino Burjanadze announced that Imedi’s assets would be unfrozen, and technical staff allowed to enter the premises on Wednesday.

The station has been kept off air by two judgments: a court ruling freezing its assets, and a Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) broadcast suspension.

These were enforced after police raided the station on November 7—the day of a government crackdown on protestors in Tbilisi—amid allegations that it was airing statements encouraging the overthrow of the government.

On December 4, following Burjanadze’s decision, the GNCC lifted its broadcast suspension. However, the court refused to consider ruling on unfreezing the station’s assets until December 6.

Although the ruling was made on December 6, the General Prosecutor’s Office said it would take a day to come into effect, prolonging the delay.

“We all gathered here to enter Imedi, and didn’t foresee any problems, because all the legal issues have been settled. But we’ve waited in vain. They say they’ll let us in tomorrow,” Imedi journalist Giorgi Akhvlediani told Rustavi 2.

At 5.00pm yesterday, Giorgi Targamadze told the Messenger that no Imedi personnel had entered the building, and the extent of the damage to equipment remained unknown.

Lewis Robertson, Chief Executive Officer of Imedi TV and radio, said it was impossible to tell when Imedi TV would resume broadcasting until the extent of technical damage has been assessed.

“After technical personnel check everything and the scale of damage is established, then we can say when the station will return to air. It’s hard to say before checking, because Imedi has suffered a lot of damage,” Rustavi 2 TV quoted Robertson as saying.

Meanwhile, Badri Patarkatsishvili, the founder of Imedi TV and a presidential hopeful, released a press statement welcoming the GNCC decision to lift its broadcast suspension as “a result of the will of the Georgian people.”

Patarkatsishvili is currently wanted for questioning over his role in an alleged coup attempt on November 7. He claims to have handed over all ownership rights of Imedi TV to News Corporation. However, the government says it has yet to see evidence of this.