Tbilisi: journalists protest against arrest of "Maestro" satellite antennas

In the capital of Georgia, journalists of the "Maestro" TV Company held a protest action, demanding to cancel the decision of the Tbilisi City Court for arrest of satellite antennas, which the Company delivered for installation at the houses of villagers.

The protest action took place in front of the Parliament. Starting from 3:00 p.m. till 4:30 p.m., several journalists stood with posters reading: "Give us chance to work."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Tbilisi City Court pronounced the decision on confiscation of a shipment of satellite dishes, suspecting that their purchase might be associated with the pre-election campaign of Bidzina Ivanishvili. The Chief Prosecutor's Office filed to the Court a motion on the arrest of satellite antennas of the "Maestro" TV Company, which were planned to be given the population for free. Earlier, the Tbilisi City Court fined Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of the coalition "Georgian Dream", 126.2 million laris (about 77.5 million US dollars) in the case of free distribution of satellite dishes among residents.

"The journalists, who work in the air, came here. The protest action was organized by the very journalists, who work in the air and not by our administration," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Georgy Mezoblishvili, a participant of the protest action, a staff member of the "Maestro" TV Company.

"This decision is incompetent, since the court has no right to base its decisions on suspicions. Decisions must be made on the basis of proven facts," believes lawyer Gela Nikoleishvili, who also took part in the picket.

Teya Sichinava, a journalist of the "Maestro" TV Company, informed the "Caucasian Knot" that the TV Company purchased satellite dishes solely on the basis of commercial considerations: "Since our TV Channel is being broadcasted exclusively through cable and satellite TV and it does not have a license for air frequency broadcasting, then, the administration of our TV Channel considered it advisable to increase our audience by local residents, who are unable to receive our TV signal."

In its turn, the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia claims that it has the evidence that the purchase of antennas for receiving satellite TV signal was affected by the "Maestro" TV Company with the support of Bidzina Ivanishvili.