Imedi TV founder Badri Patarkatsishvili would have turned 70 today

Today, Georgian businessman and philanthropist Badri Patarkatsishvili would have turned 70. He was the founder of Imedi TV, President of the Business Federation of Georgia, Chair of the Georgian National Olympic Committee, and founder of the Olympic Foundation.

The television channel he established, Imedi TV, first went on air on March 15, 2003. It became the first broadcaster in Georgia to air licensed programming. Over the years, Imedi has grown into one of the most trusted and highest-rated TV and radio networks in the country.

However, Imedi has also faced some of the most challenging moments in Georgia’s modern history. Under the previous United National Movement Government, the channel became a direct target of political pressure. It was Imedi TV that first exposed the truth behind the Sandro Girgvliani case, one of the most controversial events in Georgia’s recent past.

On November 7, 2007, during the violent dispersal of peaceful protesters in Tbilisi, special forces stormed Imedi’s headquarters, vandalized equipment, and forced the station off the air. Soon after, the Government seized control of the channel, removing it from its rightful owners. Both the Patarkatsishvili family and the Georgian public regained the station only after the change of government in 2012.

Badri Patarkatsishvili passed away on February 13, 2008, in London. According to the official version, the founder of Imedi TV died suddenly of heart failure at his home. Yet, many questions remain about the circumstances of his death.

Although the official cause was listed as ischemic heart disease, years later, the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia released secret recordings suggesting that former officials from the Constitutional Security Department had planned his assassination - sanctioned by then-President Mikheil Saakashvili. Four former officials were later charged in connection with plotting the businessman’s murder.