Georgia

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, RSF expressed outrage over the murder of Antonio Russo, an Italian radio journalist found dead on 16 October 2000 near Tbilisi. “We ask you to personally ensure that all necessary measures are taken to actively seek out and punish those who are responsible. We await […]

(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a 6 September 2000 Human Rights Watch press release: Georgia Lets Attacks on Religious Believers Go Unpunished (New York, September 6, 2000) Georgian authorities must stop the cycle of impunity for violence against religious minorities, Human Rights Watch said today. In a letter sent to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, the […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In an 8 August 2000 letter to President Eduard Shevardnadze, CPJ expressed its outrage over the recent assault on Vasil Silagadze, a Georgian journalist who was apparently beaten up by local police officers after he published an article alleging corruption among high-ranking law enforcement officials, including the interior minister. On the night of […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, RSF expressed its indignation following the attack against Vassili Silagadze, a journalist with the private weekly “Eko Digest”. “We ask that you take the necessary measures to identify and prosecute the attackers,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. RSF also asked Georgian authorities to be […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 14 June 2000 letter to President Eduard Shevardnadze, CPJ expressed its great alarm about reports of official harassment, intimidation, and death threats against the host of a program on Georgian television. According to numerous local and international news reports, Akaki Gogichaishvili, who anchors the popular weekly program “60 Minutes” on the […]

**Updates IFEX alert of 1 March 2000** (WAN/IFEX) – In a 6 March 2000 letter to President Eduard Shevardnadze, WAN and the World Editors Forum, which represent more than 17,000 publications in ninety-three countries, expressed serious concern at the disputed takeover of the independent television station Telekanal 25 in the Ajarian capital of Batumi. According […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is urging Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze to order an investigation into the apparently illegal takeover of the independent television station Telekanal 25 in the Ajarian capital, Batumi. Late on the evening of 19 February 2000, former Batumi mayor and current Georgian parliamentarian Aslan Smirba forced three of Telekanal 25’s four owners to […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 23 September 1998, RSF expressed alarm at the 21 September 1998 beating of journalists Kote Vardzelashvili and Gogi Kavtaradze who were working for the non-governmental Liberty Institute. According to information obtained by RSF, the two were severely beaten and threatened by police in Tibilisi while attempting to interview Chief Mgebrishvili, the city’s […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 23 September 1998, CPJ expressed alarm at the 12 September 1998 beating of chief editor Lasha Nadareishvili and correspondent David Okropiridze of the popular independent weekly “Asaval-Dasavali”. The journalists were attacked by a group of five or six unidentified armed men at around 10 p.m. on a street corner in front of […]

(GDF/IFEX) – According to GDF, on 17 August 1998, a trial of journalist Amiran Meskheli’s suit against the Saburtali Military Commissariat of Tbilisi was held in Tbilisi (the capital city). The defendants did not appear before the court, but Chairman Ramaz Doidjashvili delivered a judgment ordering the temporary release of the journalist from military service […]

(GDF/IFEX) – Amiran Meskheli, correspondent for the newspaper “Orioni”, appears to have been targeted for harassment by staff members of the Georgian Ministry of Defence. Following the publication in “Orioni” in May 1998 of an interview conducted by Meskheli with several soldiers in the military, the command of the Akhaltsikhi brigade of the Ministry of […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – Georgy Chanya, a reporter for the independent Georgian daily “Rezonants”, was killed on 27 May 1998 while covering renewed fighting between Abkhaz rebels and Georgian guerrillas near Gali in the separatist region of Abkhazia, CPJ is now able to confirm. According to Amiran Dzotsenidze, deputy editor of “Rezonants”, the 25-year-old Chanya and two […]

(GDF/IFEX) – According to GDF, on 27 May 1998, Georgy Chanya, a correspondent for the Tbilisi newspaper “Resonance”, was killed in the Gali region of Abkhazia (eastern central Georgia). Chanya was last seen on 26 May 1998, by a cameraman with the independent Georgian television company “Rustavi-2”, in his native village of Saberio, during military […]

According to local journalists, on 17 July 1996, Rustavi-2, the leading independent television station in Tbilisi, with an audience of more than one million viewers, was forced off the air by the Georgian Ministry of Communications. Authorities claimed afterwards that the commercial charter of Gamma Plus Agency Ltd., the parent company of Rustavi-2 in Tbilisi, […]