Court orders TV Pirveli and journalist Maia Mamulashvili to pay 15,000 GEL for Kakha Kaladze
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, December 1, 2022
The Tbilisi City Court ordered TV Pirveli and TV anchor Maia Mamulashvili to pay 15,000 GEL as a payment for moral damage to the Mayor of Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze.
In addition, according to the court's decision, the TV company must deny the information spread about Kaladze, that he received 60 million from the tenders.
The court partially satisfied the lawsuit of Kakha Kaladze - the mayor of Tbilisi demanded 100,000 GEL for moral damages.
The lawsuit was related to the information spread on July 5, 2022 by Maia Mamulashvili in the author's program Day News, that Kakha Kaladze 'pocketed' 60 million from tenders and through corruption.
According to Maia Mamulashvili, the purpose of Kakha Kaladze's appeal to the court was to cause financial damage to her and the TV company.
After the court session, Kakha Kaladze's lawyer Dimitri Gabunia stated that they are satisfied with this decision.
"This precedent is very important. We are satisfied, of course, because our lawsuit was satisfied and the fact was established that journalist Mamulashvili spread false information through TV Pirveli - she lied about the theft of 60 million GEL by Kaladze, and this was confirmed by the court's decision," he said.
The lawyer of "TV Pirveli" said that this decision sets a very dangerous precedent and poses a threat to freedom of expression.
"This is a continuation of the dangerous trend that we have seen for two years now in court, when defamation lawsuits from government officials are being filed en masse and settled. In the present case, the court had no legal basis to grant this claim.
The court did not take into account the risks to freedom of expression that such a decision entails. This is a direct message to the civil society not to talk about the government and not to criticize it," said Mari Kapanadze, a lawyer of the TV company.
