(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release, followed by the Georgian Supreme Court statement printed in the Tbilisi-based state-owned daily newspaper “Sakartvelos Respublika” (“The Republic Of Georgia”): GEORGIA: Supreme Court threatens independent TV station for exposing corruption New York, March 21, 2003-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned that the Georgian Supreme […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release, followed by the Georgian Supreme Court statement printed in the Tbilisi-based state-owned daily newspaper “Sakartvelos Respublika” (“The Republic Of Georgia”):
GEORGIA: Supreme Court threatens independent TV station for exposing corruption
New York, March 21, 2003-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned that the Georgian Supreme Court has published a statement requesting that the prosecutor general conduct a criminal inquiry into “60 Minutes,” a biweekly investigative news program on the independent, Tbilisi-based television station Rustavi 2 in retaliation for its reporting on widespread corruption in the judiciary and police.
The statement was printed in the March 10 edition of the state-owned Tbilisi daily Sakartvelos Respublika. The prosecutor has not yet responded to the court’s request.
Khatuna Charkviani, a press officer at the Supreme Court, confirmed in a telephone interview with CPJ on Thursday, March 20, that the court issued the statement in Sakartvelos Respublika because the February 16 edition of “60 Minutes” revealed that government officials whom the program had previously caught on hidden camera talking about bribes they had taken and engaging in other corruption had been fired and later rehired.
While Charkviani conceded that no specific press law prohibits journalists from using hidden cameras, she claimed that the practice is unconstitutional and violates three criminal laws.
“Courts in Georgia should be protecting Rustavi-2 journalists from harassment rather than threatening them for their investigative work,” said CPJ’s acting director Joel Simon. “We urge authorities to stop intimidating this station immediately.”
Government harassment ahead of parliamentary elections
The Supreme Court’s threatening statement against Rustavi 2 appears to be a part of a broader campaign of government harassment to discredit the broadcaster ahead of politically sensitive parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
Government-owned media outlets have published and broadcast a series of reports during the last several months attacking “60 Minutes” for its aggressive investigative coverage of government corruption. Sakartvelos Respublika, for example, recently published articles about the show titled “60 Drops of Poison,” “Distorted Truth on TV or a Program Which You Should Disinfect Before Watching,” and “Lies that the ’60 Minutes’ Markets as the Truth.”
The government’s main television channel, Channel 1, often broadcasts interviews with people criticizing Rustavi-2 and “60 Minutes.”
Rustavi-2 also faces a 10 million lari (US$ 4.6 million) criminal libel lawsuit in the Supreme Court that is unrelated to the court’s request for an investigation into the station, both Rustavi-2 and the court have confirmed.
Valeri Asatiani, the former minister of culture, filed the suit against the station after the April 1, 2000, edition of “60 Minutes” featured a convicted criminal who accused Asatiani of ordering him to murder the minister’s business partner. The Supreme Court is planning to issue a ruling in the case on April 10.
Current or former government officials angered by “60 Minutes”‘ aggressive investigative reporting on government corruption have filed many other suits in lower courts, Gogichaishvili told CPJ.
The Committee to Protect Journalists is a New York-based, independent, nonpartisan organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information about press conditions in Georgia, visit www.cpj.org.
Attachment:
Tbilisi-based state-owned daily newspaper
Sakartvelos Respublika (The Republic Of Georgia)
Number 63, Monday, March 10, 2003
Through “60 Minutes” the Criminal Underworld Has Started a War Against the Judicial System
The broadcasting company “Rustavi 2” recently started a new campaign of defamation and disinformation against the judiciary system. Systematic and unfounded accusations against the judicial system have taken a form of vivid blackmailing and pressure on the courts. These broadcasts shielded with the principles of the freedom of speech have become a tool of fulfilling ambitions and interests in the hands of specific persons. Moreover, each segment of the program, each comment and each analysis is derived of qualified, professional and legal assessment. Speculations and legal expertise of “law specialists” who are unknown to the public and do not even correspond to the level of a beginner in the field.
At the same time, we possess information about the criminal past of some of the members of this television program and their relatives. Given this, one can easily understand why are these journalists are trying to portray persons, accused by the judicial system of committing crimes, as innocent, – by doing so, these journalists are merely trying to rehabilitate their own past.
It can be said that through “60 Minutes” the criminal underworld has started a war against the judicial system. We base this assertion on the fact that “60 Minutes” portrays persons – Kereselidze, Kobalia, Barbakadze and other, accused and sentenced for committing serious crimes, as innocent people and tries to deceive the public.
We would like to declare: the public should be certain that it has a judicial system that will never compromise justice for the fear of broadcasts like these.
Because the television company “Rustavi 2” deprived the judicial system of the opportunity to provide public with objective information, we are obliged to assure the public that putting pressure on the judicial system, as well as the goal of this television program, will never be fulfilled; we will always assess it as the only way for the people with the criminal past to express their aggression.
The latest broadcast of the “60 Minutes” expressed with special phrasing the idea that the Supreme Court opposes “60 Minutes.” We would like to declare publicly that the Supreme Court only carries out justice and never participates in any political or other ambitious confrontations. Thereby, we will not let the authors of this television program put their incompetence on the same level as the qualification of the Supreme Court by artificially creating a confrontation.
Proceeding from all the abovementioned, we would like to inform the public of the following:
– The Supreme Court of Georgia addresses the Prosecutor General Office of Georgia to check the broadcasts of “60 Minutes” with the goal of deciding whether or not they consist of signs of crime against the judiciary power and if so, to take the necessary steps.
– We ask non-governmental organizations who truly abide to democratic values and the principles of a democratic state to support the independence of the court as the guarantor of independence of each of us, as well as society as a whole. We ask them to not to let anyone totally destroy this true achievement of independence by creating distrust towards the court, because otherwise we will become a state controlled by rumors and intrigues.
– We also call on all lawyers to keep objectivity and fairness, and confront the fear of hidden cameras and blackmailing and make decisions only based on laws, – not under the pressure from certain persons. We assure all of you that the Supreme Court will defend your image and reputation. We will not leave any attempt to put pressure on lawyers without reaction, as well as legal violation from the side of lawyers.
The Press-Office of the Supreme Court
