Georgian Parliament: opposition initiates investigation of pressure on journalists

The Parliament of Georgia established an initiative group to create a temporary parliamentary commission to investigate the facts of pressure on journalists. The Georgian MP Dzhondi Bagaturiya announced that at the press briefing on June 29.

"For us, it is important not to bring this issue to the session, that is not PR, but to establish this commission. Actually, no fact of pressure on journalists has been investigated in Georgia, with an exception of some concerning individuals against whom criminal proceedings were instituted," said Mr Bagaturiya.

The tasks of the commission will include investigating the facts of pressure on journalists since 2007, when the special force policemen broke into the "Imedi" TV company.

"To create an investigating commission, 30 MPs' signatures are required. First of all, we intend to appeal to the oppositional MPs, the out-of-faction MPs and the MPs boycotting the sessions. The Parliament includes 21 such MPs. Therefore, we hope that the representatives of the majority MPs faction will sign the document," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Dmitry Lordkipanidze, an opposition MP.

On June 29 the initiative group started to collect signatures among the MPs.