In a letter to President Salome Zourabichvili dated November 7th, 12 members of the European Parliament pleaded with her to use her authority to commute the sentence of Mtavari Arkhi TV Chief Nika Gvaramia.
While acknowledging that Georgia's journey to European integration has not been easy, the MEPs underscored that it is firmly supported by the great majority of the Georgian people. They emphasized that the historic opportunity for Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia was granted due to the immense sacrifices that Ukraine is making to defend the values on which also EU is built, against the Russian war of aggression, while pointing out that Georgia's path to EU candidate status has opened recently with its European perspective.
The MEPs emphasized that such a chance must not be missed and that every effort should be taken to push Georgia closer to EU candidate status and the opening of membership negotiations with the EU. They lamented Georgia's widely held perception as a nation where politically motivated persecution and imprisonment of public figures critical of the current government is possible and reiterated that holding political prisoners is incompatible with a prospective EU candidate country status. The MEPs emphasized that the conviction has been widely seen in Georgia as an effort to stifle a voice critical of the current government and that the European Parliament had denounced Gvaramia's imprisonment on dubious grounds.
Importantly, Nika Gvaramia, the founder of Mtavari TV, was found guilty by the Tbilisi Court of Appeal. As a result, the three years and six months of incarceration that the Tbilisi City Court had imposed on him were still in effect.
Earlier, on November 3, Caucasus Watch reported that the European Union issued a statement and addressed the Tbilisi Court of Appeal's decision to uphold the jail sentence of Nika Gvaramia, the head of Mtavari Arkhi TV, and stated that it had been closely watching this situation. The statement highlighted the Public Defender's evaluations of the case, noting that the EU does not comment on the merits of individual Court cases. It also mentioned that a stronger effort to guarantee a free, professional, pluralistic, and independent media environment, particularly by ensuring that criminal procedures brought against media owners fulfill the highest legal standards, represents one of the priorities identified by the European Commission.
