“The European Parliament has banned Georgian television broadcaster Imedi TV from operating within its premises for one year, whilst Moldova has refused accreditation, without explanation, to three Georgian broadcasters: Imedi, Rustavi 2, and PosTV,” Imedi TV has released the statement.

According to the broadcaster, “owing to this unsubstantiated decision, the aforementioned outlets will be unable to cover the 135th Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, at which Georgia’s Foreign Minister is also expected to be present.”

“The channel considers this decision by the Moldovan government to constitute interference with professional activities and an attack on independent media. The matter began when Imedi TV applied to the Moldovan government for accreditation to cover the 135th Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, whereupon the Moldovan government resolved that independent broadcaster Imedi should not be permitted to cover the event,” the broadcaster stated, also publishing a response received from Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

“Please be advised that the accreditation requests for the 135th Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe were examined by the competent authorities in accordance with the applicable national legislation and regulations governing the accreditation of foreign journalists in the Republic of Moldova. The accreditation process entails a standard assessment procedure applied to all applicants. Following this review, your request was not approved. We respectfully note that we are unable to provide further comment regarding individual accreditation assessments or internal review procedures,” read the response by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova.

Imedi also states that it approached the Council of Europe to enquire whether it intended to examine the matter, and whether it considered Moldova’s move to constitute an attack on an independent broadcaster and an obstruction of its professional activities; however, no response from the Council of Europe has been received to date.

Furthermore, the broadcaster reports that Imedi TV received an official letter from the European Parliament stating that “the channel is banned from operating within the European Parliament for a period of one year. The decision was based on a report broadcast on Imedi’s Week, an attempt to interview Rasa Juknevičienė, and, allegedly, a second incident involving a complaint from Markéta Gregorová, who took exception to the presence of Imedi’s camera crew within the European Parliament and made no effort to conceal her irritation in front of the channel’s camera.”

According to Imedi, after receiving an official warning on April 22, the broadcaster contacted the relevant department to seek clarification on the specific rules its journalists were alleged to have violated. However, no explanation was provided.

“Accordingly, it remained entirely unclear to us what conduct had been deemed contrary to the rules, and what specific standard ought to have been observed in the given situation. In light of these circumstances, we wish to express our concern regarding the proportionality of the decision reached.

A one-year ban is a particularly severe measure that materially impairs a media outlet’s capacity to cover the European Parliament’s work. We believe that strict adherence to the principle of proportionality in such cases is especially important, considering that, after the warning issued on April 22, we ourselves requested additional clarification.

As a media organisation, we fulfil the function of disseminating information of public significance. Coverage of the European Parliament’s work is a matter of considerable public interest, and a prolonged restriction on journalists’ access affects not only the operations of a specific media outlet, but also the public’s ability to receive timely and comprehensive information about the workings of European democratic institutions,” Imedi stated.