Rustavi2 Shareholders Will Not Cooperate with Court-Appointed Managers

Majority shareholders of the Rustavi 2 TV broadcaster have refused to negotiate with the court-appointed temporary managers of the TV company, claiming they “have nothing to talk about” with “government-appointed political censors.”

On November 5, temporary managers of Rustavi 2 TV, appointed by the City Court, asked the current owners of the broadcaster to name ‘any’ trustful person and they will grant to this person full authority to implement all executive functions required for the smooth day-to-day operation of the TV station.

Owners of 91% of the Rustavi 2 shares, brothers Levan and Gia Karamanashvili, then released a statement regarding the developments surrounding the Rustavi 2 TV Company in which they pointed to the illegality and violence that has been on-going for three years in order to seize Rustavi 2 and restrict freedom of speech.

“In the light of the unprecedented reaction from the Georgian public and international community, Ivanishvili’s government, which is completely beyond the constitutional framework, retreated and offered us, through a third party naming, a candidate acceptable for us who would be granted by the ‘temporary managers’ ‘full authority’ to manage the TV company,” the statement read.

The Karamanashvili brothers then go on to remind all that Rustavi 2 itself determines the editorial policy within the framework of the joint Euro-Atlantic values the TV Company has never deviated from.

“Yes, Rustavi 2 is a television which criticizes. Who knows if the issues of Sakdrisi, Panorama Tbilisi, the economic crisis and other actual issues would be covered if there was no Rustavi 2. This is the reason the government wants to seize the TV Company,” reads the statement.

Levan and Giorgi Karamanishvili, previously unknown to the Georgian public who are believed to be close associates of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, claimed that they will continue to “struggle along” with the Georgian public and the international community within all the available legal frames.

“Like in all other aspects of the ongoing attack aimed at seizing Rustavi 2, this proposal [of temporary managers] contains an obvious cynicism common to Russian political mentality, wherein the party, which itself is the only source of the problem, hypocritically expresses a desire to help solve the very same problem. Our people have become victims of such cynicism multiple times in the past, including in our homeland, Abkhazia,” the statement reads. “Of course we are not going to legitimize political censors by cooperating with those who have been appointed by the government by circumventing the Constitution,” reads the statement.

Tbilisi City Court last Thursday evening terminated Rustavi 2’s General Director Nika Gvaramia’s right to manage Georgia’s largest TV Company, appointing two outsiders, Davit Dvali, a former co-owner of the Company, and Revaz Sakevarishvili, the Deputy Director of rival TV Company Imedi, as provisional heads until the Constitutional Court makes the final decision on ownership.

Judge Tamaz Urtmelidze ruled that, for former owner of Rustavi 2, Kibar Khalvashi, to takeover, it has to be reflected in civil registry documentation before it becomes binding.

Rustavi 2’s current management consider the ruling unlawful based on the Constitutional Court’s ruling three days ago to temporarily suspend the government’s right to immediately enforce decisions in first instance courts if they have been appealed to a higher court. The current situation surrounding the Rustavi 2 has been called dire by experts who say there is no way to guess how the situation will develop.

Katie Ruth Davies