Judge Ekaterine Bebia of the Zugdidi District Court has fully accepted the petition from the prosecutor's office and granted bail in the amount of 5000 GEL to Vitali Guguchia as a preventive measure. The prosecutor's office accuses Guguchia, a grocery store owner and activist opposed to the Russian Law, of illegally obstructing the journalist from the propaganda outlet POSTV in his professional activities and of committing violence against the operator.
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Prosecutor Akaki Mokeria says that there is evidence in the case proving Vitali Guguchia’s guilt, including witness statements and video recordings.
"The case includes eyewitnesses with important information. They provided this information to the investigative body and detailed the aggression displayed by the accused after the arrival of the journalist and the cameraman. Additionally, video recordings were subpoenaed in the criminal case, which, upon decoding, revealed that the accused became aggressive as soon as they arrived," the prosecutor stated.
The defense argues that there was no reason to impose a restraining order against Guguchia. Lawyer Revaz Mikaia asserts that the witness statements and video recordings are "completely inconsistent."
Vitali Guguchia maintains his innocence, claiming that the POSTV camera crew came to provoke him rather than conduct legitimate journalistic activities.
"There are continuous shots showing what kind of journalistic activity Natia Beridze is engaged in; it is not journalistic activity. I only responded with swearing and offensive language to the accusations. Regarding the physical altercation, the footage shows that the cameraman, who had a job to do, approached me, and I defended myself.
This is a classic Russian tactic to intimidate active people through various means, including 'legal' methods, to silence them and prevent them from contributing to positive change in this country," Guguchia said after the court session.
He later mentioned that the bail money was raised by his supporters in just half an hour.
Guguchia links the initiation of the criminal case to an incident involving Viktor Japaridze, a member of the parliamentary majority and owner of a 52% share in POSTV. Two months ago, after Japaridze voted for the Russian Law, he was called a "slave" on the street. Japaridze then exited his car, took an orange from Guguchia’s store counter, and threw it at the citizen. The video of this incident went viral on social networks. The following day, Japaridze returned to the store to apologize and compensate for the loss. "The orange is not the issue; you took away our children's future," said Vitali Guguchia’s wife, Miranda Jobava.
On July 31, at Vitali Guguchia's house in the village of Kakhati, Zugdidi Municipality, POSTV journalist Natia Beridze called him "Zonder," "Megi Kardava's puppet boy," and "with pants down" in the presence of his wife and four young children. Vitali Guguchia asked Natia Beridze and her accompanying cameramen to leave. The verbal confrontation escalated into physical violence when the cameraman from the propaganda TV channel attempted to physically assault Guguchia and his family members.
The prosecutor's office has charged Vitali Guguchia under the first part of Article 126 of the Criminal Code (beating causing physical pain) and the first part of Article 154 of the Criminal Code (illegally obstructing a journalist in his professional activities). The crime is punishable by up to one year in prison.
