17 May, 2022
First of all, we would like to note that we had no plans whatsoever to make any special statements about the case of financial damage to Rustavi 2. Specific individuals committed a specific crime, and they were sentenced by the court in accordance with the law. We believe that the mere fact that both Gvaramia and Damenia are high-ranking officials of the previous authorities and are currently engaged in opposition political activities does not constitute grounds for us to issue a political statement in response to the revelation of the crime that they committed against the media.
We note from the outset that we are not planning to talk about the verdict against Gvaramia and Damenia at this time. We would like to focus only on the hysterical campaign, which should be unequivocally assessed as an attempt to politicize justice.
Before assessing this attempt, I would like to remind you of the quote from a statement by more than 20 so-called nongovernmental organizations regarding the court’s decision: “Both the course of the trial and its ultimate outcome do not correspond to the requirements of a fair trial and further reinforce our suspicions of gross interference by the authorities in the decision-making process. We stress that the decision undermines Georgia’s future development prospects, restricts media freedom and a pluralistic media environment, and poses a threat to the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration process.”
This quote pertains not to the verdict of yesterday but the decision of 2017. Even then, five years ago, the National Movement, the NGOs affiliated with it, the then President, the then Public Defender, and their foreign lobbyists were waging a hysterical campaign, based on lies and fakes, in connection with the Rustavi 2 case. This lie and fake was exposed by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg within two years.
Although during its rule the United National Movement seized Rustavi 2 in a completely bandit-like manner and in broad daylight, this party as well as its partners and lobbyists brazenly and shamelessly asserted that the court had unjustly returned the television station to its rightful owner. Unfortunately, a similar brazen and shameless campaign is witnessed by the public today as well. Let us remind you that the initiation of the campaign against the Georgian judiciary is chronologically connected with the case of Rustavi 2, and to this day, this campaign is underway with the use of Soviet propaganda methods and the attachment of labels.
We do not want to talk about the details of yesterday’s verdict at all. We will focus on a single circumstance pertaining to the case. Pseudo-lawyers of the National Movement assert the “absurdity” of the verdict by referring to the fact that Gvaramia was robbing the television station in agreement with its then owners. This is a completely feeble argument – when the illegal owners of a television station and its general director agree to rob the television station, which was to be returned to its rightful owner, naturally, this cannot absolve the general director of responsibility.
Here is another quote, this time from the Strasbourg court’s decision on the case of Sandro Girgvliani: “The Court is struck by how the different branches of State power ... all acted in concert in preventing justice from being done in this gruesome homicide case.”
While these people used to surprise us during their time in power by coordinating around injustice, now they are surprising us from the ranks of the opposition. The concerted actions, both past and present, of the United National Movement and its satellite parties, its own media outlets, NGOs, public defenders, and foreign lobbyists, aimed at preventing justice from being served in the case of the National Movement’s seizure of Rustavi 2, the cases against Mikheil Saakashvili regarding Sandro Girgvliani, Valeri Gelashvili, 7 November, Imedi TV, and corruption, and the case against Nika Gvaramia regarding the robbery of Rustavi 2, are truly astonishing.
We would like to remind you that against the backdrop of the hysterical campaign of 2017, the Strasbourg court applied a temporary measure, suspending the return of the ownership of Rustavi 2 TV to its rightful owner for two years. This decision allowed Gvaramia the opportunity to rob the television station of several additional millions. With this, the radical opposition, the then Public Defender, NGOs, and foreign lobbyists put the Strasbourg court in an awkward position. However, no one has apologized to the court to this day.
As we have already noted, in 2019, the Strasbourg court fully confirmed the legitimacy of the Georgian court’s decision, thus revealing the campaign waged by the National Movement and its partners and lobbyists and exposing their lies. After that, however, they did not apologize to the nine judges of the Supreme Court, as well as the four judges of the courts of first and second instance, who endured grave insults over a period of two years. We would like to remind you that the shameful bullying of Judge Tamaz Utmelidze by Gvaramia was expressly condemned by the Strasbourg court.
Unfortunately, the National Movement, its satellites, NGOs, Margvelashvili, and foreign lobbyists did not apologize to the Georgian public in 2019 for insulting them with a completely shameless campaign based on brazen lies.
And now, the exact same people are waging a new hysterical campaign aimed at preventing the rightful owner of Rustavi 2 from getting back the 7 million that he is due. This campaign should be unequivocally assessed as an attempt to exert pressure on the court, which is dictated by political motives. We would like to remind you that the court hearing on the criminal case through the procedure of appeal and cassation is yet to come, as is the civil dispute on the basis of which the 7 million that was illegally seized must be returned to Rustavi 2 TV. Naturally, any politically motivated hysteria and the bullying of judges can have an impact on their future decisions. Accordingly, this bullying must receive the appropriate response.
Everyone is well aware of the events surrounding Rustavi 2 TV over the past years. The television station was first forcibly taken away from its rightful owner and then, when they realized that the court would inevitably return it to its rightful owner, they “tossed it back” to the rightful owner, having robbed it first. Only the people who have a malicious, subjective political interest in the case can deem the legal confirmation of this fact unacceptable.
These people are the participants of the famous meeting in Bakuriani, the new Shulaveri Committee, the “party of war and betrayal,” for which injustice, the seizure of television stations, and the exertion of pressure on the court are acceptable practices. The National Movement, its satellite parties, its media outlets, NGOs, and foreign lobbyists are acting in concert against the rule of law, the judiciary, state institutions, and media outlets in order to retain at least a theoretical chance of political success in the future.
We cannot give these people the right to suspend the enforcement of the law, rob television stations, or exert pressure on the courts.
Finally, we must respond to the people who are trying to equate the non-punishment of Gvaramia with Georgia’s European prospects. It must be clearly stated in response that the European Union is not about corruption, robbery, and injustice – the European Union is precisely about the rule of law and a society free of corruption. Accordingly, it is precisely the National Movement, the NGOs, Gvaramia, and their foreign lobbyists who are, in their essence, anti-EU.
And, in any case, we will never be able to become members of the European family without the rule of law. Accordingly, our government will do everything in its power to protect the principle of the legal state, which is one of the most important European values.