Georgia's ruling party forced opposition channels to advertise it through court
Georgian Dream party sued Georgia's opposition channels (illustrative photo: Getty Images)
The Georgian Dream party, which is the ruling party in Georgia, forced three opposition TV channels to air its advertisements through the court. The TV channels were also fined.
Thus, the Tbilisi City Court fined the TV channels Formula, Mtavari Archi, and TV Pirveli almost 2 thousand dollars.
In addition, the court ordered these three TV channels to immediately show the Georgian Dream political advertisement, which they refused to publish.
Scandalous advertisement of the Georgian Dream
At the end of September, the Georgian Dream party released a political advertisement in which it used images of Ukrainian cities destroyed by Russian aggression. The images from Ukraine were accompanied by the words “No to War” at the bottom, and the images from Georgia were accompanied by the words “Choose Peace”.
The TV channels Formula, Mtavari Archi, and TV Pirveli refused to show this advertisement, calling it unethical, inciting national discord, and intimidating voters with war. The TV channels informed the Communications Commission of their decision.
Georgian Dream also appealed to the Commission, demanding a lawsuit against the TV channels' decision. The party's request was upheld - the Commission recognized the TV channels as violators and drew up administrative reports against them.
