In Georgia, journalists hold protest action against pressure on media

Today, in Tbilisi, at the building of the Ministry of Justice, a group of journalists held the action "Be in Solidarity", expressing the protest against cases of pressure on the media.

The organizers of the protest action stated that over the last two months, in the regions of Georgia, about 20 cases of verbal and physical abuse of journalists occurred, and that very facts caused the protest action. Besides, the protest of the organizers was caused by the fact that law enforcement agencies refused to institute criminal proceedings on that facts.

The participants of the protest action urged society, government, and foreign human rights organizations to pay attention to protecting the rights of media in Georgia, especially in anticipation of upcoming parliamentary elections. The protestors also expressed their demand to the Georgian Prosecutor's Office to institute criminal cases on the facts of recent violation of the rights of journalists, the "News-Georgia" reports.

"The problem is that the investigatory authorities failed to respond to any of the facts," the "Interfax" quotes Magda Popiashvili, the organizer of the protest action, as saying.

The number of the participants of the protest action in Tbilisi was not specified. Earlier, it was reported that the event would gather hundreds of journalists in the cities of Shida and Kvemo-Kartli, Gori, Kakheti, Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, Lanchkhuti, and Adzharia, the "GHN" reports.