Georgia: Television Executive Arrests Stir Media Rights Debate

The recent arrest of two executives from a Georgian television station often critical of the government could have far-reaching implications for the status of media in Georgia, observers are saying.

Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili has characterized the August 27 arrests of Shalva Ramishvili and David Kokhreidze on charges of extortion as the opening of an anti-corruption crackdown on Georgian media companies. But associates of the detainees, along with some human rights activists, accuse the government of orchestrating the pair's arrest in an attempt to squelch media criticism ahead of parliamentary by-elections in October.

Ramishvili and Kokhreidze, the co-owner and general director respectively of independent television station 202, were captured on a hidden camera accepting a $30,000 payment from Koba Bekauri, a member of parliament from the ruling National Movement Party. The payment was allegedly part of a $100,000 bribe meant to prevent 202's broadcast of an investigative report, produced by an independent production company Studio Reporters, concerning Bekauri's business dealings. The report alleged that the dealings violated Georgian law.

The trio was filmed meeting in the apartment of Irma Stepnadze, spokesperson for the Georgian Railways Company and a mutual friend of Ramishvili and Bekauri. Stepnadze has since charged that Ramishvili offered her $5,000 out of the payment from Bekauri, but that she declined the offer.

In an interview with EurasiaNet, Giorgi Kokhreidze, brother and business partner of David Kokhreidze, charged that the arrests, as filmed by the Interior Ministry, were "a provocation" against the 202 television station. "The show that he [Ramishvili] produced does not suit the government. It is an independent channel," Kokhreidze said. "There was a goal to scare not only journalists [on 202] but all journalists in Georgia."

The report dealt with a $150,000 interest-free loan the National Movement parliamentarian allegedly received from an Israel-based Georgian businessman to buy shares in Opiza Customs Terminal, a property leased by the Georgian customs service. Studio Reporters charged that the loan was, in effect, a gift to Bekauri, who, as a public servant, cannot accept gifts with a financial value greater than 20 times the minimum cost of living.

Studio Reporters also contended that Bekauri's involvement in Opiza may have been improper. "According to the law, a public servant does not have the right to participate in a private enterprise's management," Studio Reporters General Director Vakho Komakhidze was quoted as saying by the Civil Georgia web site. "We have hidden camera footage [an interview with MP Bekauri] which reveals that Bekauri is actually directly engaged in the management of this enterprise."

Despite repeated attempts, EurasiaNet was unable to reach Bekauri for comment.

At a pre-trial hearing on August 29, Ramishvili argued that the exchange with Bekauri was part of an effort on his part to further expose Bekauri's illegal business practices. Calling himself "a bad Sherlock Holmes," the 202 co-owner claimed that he had discussed with Komakhidze about using a hidden camera to film the transaction, but had been unable to secure the camera in time.

In a September 1 statement released through his defense attorneys, Ramishvili went on to say that he had talked with Basis Bank General Director Zura Tsikhistavi about finding a room with hidden cameras to record the meeting with Bekauri. He also stated that information about the meeting had been shared with Levan Ramishvili, chairman of the Liberty Institute, a prominent non-governmental organization, and Tina Khidasheli, a leader of the opposition Republican Party. [Khidasheli is a former board chair of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, a member of the Soros Foundations network. EurasiaNet.org operates under the auspices of the Open Society Institute, also a member of the Soros Foundations network.]

"I have never blackmailed or extorted money from Koba Bekauri," Ramishvili said on August 29. "On the contrary, for the past three months Bekauri had been mounting pressure on me and on my friends through blackmail and threats, saying that this film [documenting Bekauri's alleged illegal business operations] should not be broadcast."

Ramishvili and Kokhreidze have been sentenced to three months of pre-trial detention. Both Ramishvili and Kokhreidze have been on a hunger strike since August 28 to protest their arrest. A court decision is expected by the week of September 5 on whether or not to free the men pending later trial.

Bekauri has admitted that he received the loan referred to in Studio Reporters' report, but argues that the loan was legal under Georgian law. In an interview with the online news service Civil Georgia, the parliamentarian stated that he had decided to offer Ramishvili and Komakhidze money to stop the broadcast of Studio Reporters' report only "to reveal corruption in the Georgian media."

The government has since indicated that these arrests are the beginning of an effort to crack down on corruption in the media. On the day of Ramishvili's arrest, Merabishvili, the interior minister, remarked during his August 27 news conference that "along with the Customs Office, the Tax Department and other state agencies, the media must also be free of corruption." Merabishvili added that the ministry would be willing to work with "any interested party."

Giorgi Kokhreidze maintains that the arrests of his brother and Ramishvili, along with the sting operation, were designed to discredit 202. "A lot happened that was not shown [on the clip aired by Georgian TV stations from the arrests]," he said, including contradictory statements from Bekauri concerning the timetable of events and who exactly propositioned him [for money]."

According to Giorgi Kokhreidze, Bekauri first proposed "making a deal" concerning the program on August 14, while Ramishvili, David Kokhreidze and he were in Kobuleti, a resort town on Georgia's Black Sea coast. "When Shalva came back here [Tbilisi], two or three days later, he calls my brother and says Koba Bekauri is [now] offering money," Giorgi Kokhreidze told EurasiaNet. "My first reaction was -- from what I knew of what they were filming -- it just wasn't worth that much. And I simply considered it a provocation."

Giorgi Kokhreidze added that the station had experienced pressure in the past, especially after an announcement that it would begin airing a new version of Dardubala, a political satire program that was previously used to highlight official corruption under former President Eduard Shevardnadze.

The 202 incident promises to further inflame an ongoing debate over media rights in Georgia under President Mikheil Saakashvili. Many journalists charge that the government is trying to control the news media by encouraging the cancellation of television programs critical of government policies. Some journalists also complain that the government hampers the distribution of information.

Against this backdrop, some Georgian media professionals and human rights activists have expressed concern over the arrests.

Maia Mikashavidze, dean of journalism and media management at the Georgian Institute for Public Affairs in Tbilisi, commented that while it is still too early to say exactly what happened between Ramishvili and Bekauri, the situation is unsettling. "It is a very strange coincidence that this could happen to the person who was the most outspoken against the government," Mikashavidze said. "That is why it is creating fear in people."

Others see the arrests as part of a government campaign against media criticism. "The TV station [202] is very independent," said Ucha Nanuashvili, director of the Human Rights Information and Documentation Center. "I know Ramishvili planned to start more informational programs in September and the government chose the right time to [shut him down]; We [also] have elections coming in October and local elections next year. That is why the government would like to control all the media outlets in Georgia."

Members of the ruling National Movement have also spoken out against the proceedings, arguing that the official investigation should also focus on Bekauri and his business dealings. A meeting of the party's parliamentary faction is planned for September 4 to discuss the issue. One National Movement MP, David Zurabishvili, who had been increasingly at odds with the National Movement leadership, resigned from the party after he was criticized by fellow National Movement member and MP Giga Bokeria for publicly questioning Ramishvili's arrest.

One civil rights activist, however, argued that the problem often lies with journalists themselves. The case against Ramishvili, said Giorgi Meladze, a program director at the Liberty Institute, is one of simple corruption, not government pressure against independent media. "We all saw what was happening," Meladze said. "There is clear evidence that this guy is taking money." While Meladze agreed that government pressure on the media does exist in Georgia, he said that this is not the case with Ramishvili and 202. "I just saw that a person has been arrested for taking a bribe. The station is still operating," Meladze said.

Nanuashvili, the rights activist, questioned the government's decision to open a media corruption crackdown with arrests involving representatives of an independent outlet. "There are [also] reports of corruption in the state-owned channel [Channel One]," he said. "But [instead of looking into that] the government tried to pressure independent media sources."

Meladze agreed that the government's attention was misplaced. "It is not a good message [coming from the government] that we [the government] want to clean the media," he said, adding that it is up to journalists, rather than government, to take a stand against corruption and defend professional ethics. "The government should deal with crime."