Imedi TV owner alleges sanctions plot to cripple TV channel

Irakli Rukhadze, the owner of Imedi TV, on Friday sharply criticised the potential for personal sanctions against him, calling the move a direct assault on the freedom of speech and a veiled attempt to silence the popular television station.

In an appearance on the TV show Imedi Day, Rukhadze responded to a host’s question about whether sanctioning a private company's owner constitutes an attack on free speech.

“Of course, it is”, Rukhadze asserted.

“Why are they sanctioning me? Because they hope that if they sanction me, then you [Imedi TV] will have problems too. This is how the same people who stopped us differently in 2007 are stopping us now”, he noted.

Rukhadze referred to the 2007 raid on the TV channel under the previous UNM government - an event that remains a highly sensitive topic in Georgian media history.

He further suggested the selective application of media scrutiny.

“No one is saying to sanction Jeffrey Sachs, no one is saying to sanction Tucker Carlson. If Imedi TV spoke 5% of what Jeffrey Sachs and Tucker Carlson are saying, imagine, they would blow us up. Why? Because attacking them is an open attack on free speech. In reality, the attack on me and you is also an attack on free speech, because half of Georgia gets information from you, and not because someone forced them, not because other channels were cut off - but because they choose what to watch with their remote control and they watch you [Imedi TV]. This is what drives them crazy; they cannot fight you otherwise, to make them switch the channel and watch theirs, and that's why they want to stop Imedi TV”, Rukhadze concluded.