(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 […]
(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 sign over seventy-five percent of the station’s shares to Mikhail Gagoshidze, whom CPJ’s sources describe as an unknown third party chosen by Smirba to be the station’s nominal owner.
Earlier in the day, Smirba, a close associate of Ajarian President Aslan Abashidze, had been involved in a physical altercation with Telekanal 25’s business director, Atandil Gvasaliya, in front of the building that houses the station.
According to CPJ’s sources in the region, Smirba told the station owners that he would “put a bullet through someone’s head” if they refused to transfer their shares to Gagoshidze. In an attempt to legitimize the transaction, Smirba then forced the owners to accept a payment of US$50,000.
Telekanal 25 is the only independent station in Ajaria and the sole alternative to the state-owned channel, Ajaria TV. Smirba, who has often criticized Telekanal 25’s coverage, had made several previous attempts to coerce the station’s owners into selling their shares. He also claimed that Telekanal 25 owed him approximately US$56,000 for a 1996 payment that he had made to Ajarian official Leonid Zhgenti in return for granting the station
permission to broadcast.
Smirba provided no evidence to back up this allegation, despite having promised that he would take no further steps to acquire Telekanal 25 until the legitimacy of his claim could be proven. All of the station’s journalists and most of its technicians have since resigned in protest.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– expressing great concern that the forced sale amounts to an Ajarian government attempt to take over the station
– asking that he do everything in his power to investigate the buyout of Telekanal
25, and to ensure that independent media may operate in an open and free environment throughout Georgia
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:His Excellency Eduard Shevardnadze
President of Georgia
Plekhanova 103
Tbilisi 880064
Georgia
Fax: +99532 999 200
E-mail: office@presidpress.gov.gePlease copy appeals to the source if possible.
