President of Georgia Abuses Two High-Circulation Georgian Newspapers

Visiting the Ministry of Defense on July 28 President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili compared Georgian newspaper Alia and weekly Asaval-Dasavali with all kind of filth.

"Last year you saw how soon the attempt of military coup was liquidated. At the time in Mukhrovani there were still some people from old times reading newspapers Alia, Asaval-Dasavali and all kind of filth and rumors. It was confrontation between old and new Georgia. In that very case Georgia showed its power and patriotism," said President Saakashvili during his visit to the Ministry of Defense.

Reporting to Media.ge Dimitri Tikaradze, publishing editor of the Alia said the newspaper will give a response to President through the pages of the edition. Most likely the Asaval-Dasavali too will respond to the President's speech through the editorial letter in its Wednesday edition.

The representatives of the aforementioned newspapers, Tamar Kordzaia of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) clarified, can sue President for defaming their business reputation.

According to Article 18 of the Civil Code on the defamation of business reputation the newspaper representatives can lodge an application provided they can prove the sale of the newspaper has decreased following the President's statement. Part one Article 18 of the Civil Code discuses defamation of honor and dignity, but a legal person is not entitled to lodge a complaint for the defamation of honor and dignity," Tamar Kordzaia clarified to Media.ge.

"In addition President's statement is being directly considered as pressure upon independent media," Tamar Kordzaia added, "that might become the ground for suing at the court."

"President is the head of the state and any of his statements of the kind can be easily considered as pressure upon media since he gives negative evaluation to the activity of a specific media organization," the GYLA lawyer clarified.

The law on speech and expression stipulates that anyone, except administrative bodies and their representatives, has a right to freedom of expression. According to Kordzaia President as a commander of the country has his rights restricted to freedom of expression more than any other, in line with the law.

A popular newspaper Alia which comes out four times per week is not favorable to the authorities. Its pages frequently offer the articles denunciating the authorities though sometimes the edition refers to unreliable sources and disseminates unverified facts. The Georgian weekly Asaval-Dasavali distinguished with its high circulation and being one of the leading editions in Georgia is evidently following anti-governmental stance, the journalists employed at the newspaper express their political views unmasked.

President Saakashvili has criticized Georgian press earlier too. For instance on June 5, 2010 at the 20th anniversary of the Venice Commission President mentioned print media as aggressive and nasty.

"The philosophy I am standing behind is very simple and it includes open society. This kind of society exists in Georgia. It embraces free media - we have got free media, which is very very aggressive and nasty. We have got a freely elected local government, we have got political parties of totally different structure... if you cast doubts on the open society you can't develop your own country," Mikheil Saakashvili said.