Mtavari Arkhi accuses Georgian Dream of attacking cameraman, latter denies
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, September 17
The opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi reported on September 15 that their cameraman was thrown from the balcony of the second floor of the Georgian Dream office.
Nika Gvaramia, General Director of the television, said that the members of the Dream ousted cameramen from the second floor of the Georgian Dream headquarters.
The fact is being investigated under the Article 124 of the Criminal Code (less severe or severe damage to health through negligence). If convicted, the offense is punishable by a fine or correctional labor for up to 2 years.
According to the Main Channel, cameraman Levan Ablotia, who was preparing a report about Kareli mayoral candidate Zaza Guliashvili together with journalist Beka Korshia, was thrown from the balcony of the second floor of the Kareli office of the Georgian Dream.
Korshia, who accompanied the cameraman, says the ruling party representatives were hostile from the very beginning. He reports that two people threw hands at the cameraman in the office of Dream and threw him.
Guliashvili, Kareli mayoral candidate from the Georgian Dream denies the accusations saying the cameraman of the Main Channel was not thrown out from the second floor balcony of the office, but fell down from the stair railing by himself.
The Georgian Dream party has responded to the incident and accused the opposition United National Movement party and its ‘affiliated TV channels’ of staging provocations and spreading fake information.
Ruling party MP Mamuka Mdinaradze said that journalist Korshia was trying to organize to provoke them. GD head Irakli Kobakhidze stated that Mtavari Arkhi had a recording which showed the incident and that Ablotia ‘fell down himself.’ However, “the channel deliberately concealed the recording.”
Ablotia, who underwent additional examinations after being transferred from the ‘Evex’ clinic in Kareli to the ‘New Hospital’ in Tbilisi, was discharged home on September 16. According to the doctor, the patient's condition met the discharge criteria:
"Only superficial traumas have been identified by first-line studies, as well as high-tech studies. Damage to any internal organs, damage to the brain or bone system was not observed. There is a superficial trauma to the chest and there is stretching of the joints. The recommendation is bed rest," the doctor told the media.
Main Channel previously reported that Ablotia had a broken hip, thigh and rib, injured arm and bruises as a result of an attack on the Georgian Dream headquarters. The cameraman will continue his treatment at his apartment.
Cameraman has dismissed the allegations of the channel head Gvaramia that he was thrown out of the second floor by GD activists. Ablotia has told journalists that there was a confrontation in the office and that GD activists were aggressive to the staff of opposition-minded channels. He stated that 4 or 5 activists tried to grab his camera and that during the fight he was walking backwards and then fell down.
“I remember 4 or 5 people, some trying to grab the camera from behind, some from the front and I avoided myself, as is often the case, and went backwards because I wanted to have a distance, I wanted the distance between the aggressor and me. I've lost my balance and fallen over in this wrestling match. I was just defending myself, but I could not defend myself to the end and what happened - happened,” the main channel operator told the media, adding: “I was thrown out, in the full sense of the word.”
According to him, journalist Beka Korshia was forcibly removed from the office of the Georgian Dream and then left the office himself, after which the members of the Georgian Dream were locked in the office. According to Levan Ablotia, the situation became tense when “Resign” was written on the building.
Coalition for Media Advocacy condemns the violence and believes that the restriction of the film crew of the Main Channel in Kareli on September 15 and the injury of the cameraman include signs of illegal interference in journalistic activities, which is a circumstance to be considered during the investigation.
“The coalition considers the incident in Kareli a result of the aggressive policy of the ruling party. We call on the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia not to encourage violence against journalists and also to call on its supporters to immediately stop attacking journalists and illegally obstructing their journalistic activities,” the statement said.
