20 November 2007, 21:06
Soso Baratashvili hopes for restart of "Imedi" broadcasting before presidential election in Georgia
The "Imedi" TV and Radio Company has hopes for restart of broadcasting before the forthcoming presidential election in Georgia. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Soso Baratashvili, the advocate of the "Imedi".
As he said, now the defence is protesting against the court ruling to impose arrest on the Company's property and suspension of its broadcasting at the Appeal Court. "Besides, we have applied to the State Office of Public Prosecutor with a request to investigate into the facts of beating the "Imedi" employees and damaging the equipment.
The third direction in which the defence is working is to appeal to the Regulatory Commission on restart of broadcasting in the Company's allotted frequencies.
"Should we fail to achieve results in Georgia, we intend to apply to the European Court for Human Rights," Soso Baratashvili said.
He also marked that the records of telephone conversations of the "Imedi" Company's employees, which have been recently made public by the State Office of Public Prosecutor, do not confirm the guilt of the journalists of any intent to overthrow the power.
"The 'Imedi' TV and Radio Company will restart its broadcasting before the presidential election," political scientist Ramaz Sakvarelidze told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "But, I think, it will be done at such stage, when its operation will not essentially affect the course of events, that is, some one or two weeks prior to the election."
In the opinion of Archil Gegeshidze, an expert of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Researches, President Saakashvili will manage to lift up his rating quite shortly: "He's already gone about his work: everyday meetings, increased wages, pensions, etc."
Author: Edita Badasian, CK correspondent
