Tbilisi City Court judge Archil Kochlamazashvili partially satisfied a defamation claim filed against the TV station Pirveli by the Minister of Internally Displaced Persons of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, Davit Patsatsia. The TV station was ordered to pay 15 000 GEL to Patsatsia in compensation for moral damages and to formally recant their reporting about him. Davit Patsatsia is a brother-in-law to the Chairman of Georgian Dream – Irakli Kobakhidze.
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Patsatsia appealed to the court in objection to the statements made on the air of TV Pirveli related to detected violations in the ministry and misappropriation of funds during the course of repair and restoration works for the housing of internally displaced persons, unearthed by the State Audit Service. According to their reports, the trace of improper expenditure leads all the way to the Head of the Ministry. The TV company argued in court that the statements were estimations, and were based on the Audit’s report.
The nongovernmental organization Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI), which protects the interests of the TV company, states that the amount charged for compensation for moral damages is startling and should be viewed as unreasonable with respect to the damages Mr. Patsatsia may have suffered.
Davit Patsatsia initially demanded 1 GEL as compensation from the network and eventually ballooned his ask to 30 000. According to GDI, on the question during the trial of why he decided to increase the demand, Patsatsia responded that he wanted to punish the media and the journalists.
“Imposing a 15 000 GEL fine for such a case of defamation, when the other side is a prominent political figure and the spread of information refers to carrying out public duties, is not in line with the established national or European practices. Moreover, it contributes to amplifying the ‘stinging effect’ and fuels the fear in society that any criticism of the government can be subject to legal persecution,” state the human rights organizations.
Georgian Democracy Initiative points out that, given the tendency of government officials to file groundless lawsuits, the above-mentioned decision sets a particularly dangerous precedent: “We can expect a rise in the cases of turning the freedom of expression of public persons into grounds for legal harassment, which will significantly hinder the activities of media representatives and create a chocking effect on freedom of speech and expression.”
In November 2022, Tbilisi City Court judge Zaal Maruashvili ordered TV Pirveli and journalist Maya Mamulashvili to pay 15,000 GEL to Tbilisi Mayor and Georgian Dream General Secretary Kakha Kaladze for moral damages and retract defaming statements made about him. GDI draws attention to the fact that it was the satisfaction of Kaladze's claim that preceded the increase of the amount demanded by Irakli Kobakhidze's brother-in-law as compensation from 1 GEL to 30,000 GEL.
In September of the same year, Tbilisi City Court judge Tina Vashakmadze, satisfied the claim of Tamar Zaalishvili, mother of Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of Georgian Dream, against Pirveli TV network. Kobakhidze's mother also disputed the defamation of the television. Kobakhidze’s mother also sued for defamation. TV Pirveli was ordered to pay 5555 GEL, and the journalist and producer of the program “Nodar Meladze’s Saturday”, Maka Chikhladze and Nodar Meladze, respectively, were ordered to pay 5 GEL each.
