Georgia’s ruling party official: UK sanctions target TV channels for “telling the truth”

Levan Machavariani, the first deputy chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party faction in the legislative body, on Tuesday responded to the United Kingdom’s decision to impose sanctions on Georgian television companies Imedi and PosTV, stating that the move represents an attempt to undermine free media.

In his remarks, Machavariani noted that the sanctions will not silence the broadcasters. On the contrary, he said, both TV channels will intensify their efforts to inform the public.

“This is an attempt to infringe on free media. Unfortunately, in the case of Imedi, this is not the first such attempt. We saw in 2007 how informal oligarchic rule tried to silence Imedi through [imprisoned former president] Mikheil Saakashvili, and this is a continuation of that process”, the official said.

“However, neither Imedi nor POSTV will stop speaking the truth because of this. On the contrary, they will redouble their efforts to keep our society informed. Examples have been cited as grounds for sanctioning these television channels, and from what I have reviewed, everything written there is true”, he continued.

Machavariani concluded by emphasising that television companies were being sanctioned for telling the truth.

“Accordingly, it turns out that they are sanctioning television channels for telling the truth, which is completely unacceptable and a fascist approach. However, under informal oligarchic rule, this is not surprising, as they need controlled media that will promote the narrative that suits them”, he concluded.