Former Georgia official to file against current Georgian President

The first international media broadcaster Mzera was established in England by Georgian businessman and former official Vano Chkhartishvili. While establishing the media outlet, Chkhartishvili highlighted the name of the company and spoke about the reasons why he had to decline TV channel ownership in his home country.

The businessman outlined that Mzera will continue to be loyal to its editorial values, despite which new government comes to power in Georgia.

“The editorial values of Mzera will be based on the internationally recognized norms of objectivity, impartiality, and the accuracy of facts. Britain, with its journalistic traditions, is exemplary to me. The Georgian media space is too politicized and the population has no opportunity to receive unbiased and balanced information- especially before elections. Public broadcasting, unlike the BBC, doesn’t meet its function; this is to say nothing about the TV space monopolized by the government and the national broadcasting company. I hope that Georgian society and the free media will manage to turn the freedom of the word into the main instrument of a successful democracy. The international broadcasting station Mze and me personally, will play a role in this”, Chkhartishvili said.

The businessman directly accused Georgia’s president of selling the TV channel Mze in Georgia and voiced that will he will prepare a complaint against Mikheil Saakashvili.

The businessman’s spokesperson, Giorgi Giorgadze, held a press conference in Tbilisi on May 23, where he introduced Chkhartishvili’s statement to journalists.

Giorgadze says that as a result of the pressure from President Mikheil Saakashvili, Chkhartishvili had to re-incorporate the TV Channel Mze into the entity proposed by Saakashvili. “It was impossible to resist, as me and my family members, business partners and hundreds of workers of the business structure faced a real threat. I believe that I will regain the TV Channel ” he said.

The complaint against Saakashvili has already been prepared. However, the details of the case have not been revealed as of yet. “We are sure that the objective international court will impose solid financial sanctions on him, and the funds will be spent on developing Georgia’s free media”, the statement read.