Georgian Parliament ruling party MP Archil Talakvadze has echoed Public Defender Nino Lomjaria’s recent statement over Nika Gvaramia’s case that the court’s reasoning is “unfounded in terms of both conviction and sentencing.”

The Public Defender said she would address Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili to exercise her power to pardon. MP stated the Public Defender has the right to do so but “firstly, we have to see what we are dealing with.”

“There are probe-confirmed facts which the Court reviewed and ruled that Nika Gvaramia violated the law,” Talakvadze noted. The MP thinks Public Defender is required to make “balanced and fair decisions.”

As to political assessment, Talakvadze said Nika Gvaramia is “neither independent journalist, nor the manager of a free media outlet, but the United National Movement (UNM)’s guilty leader, shielding behind journalism.”

“Today, we see many attempts that Nika Gvaramia, who was a political official, had political responsibility for the most serious crimes, gross violations of human rights, who directly justified raids on TVs and their shut down by the state need. In fact, he is neither an independent journalist nor a manager of a free media outlet, but a guilty leader of the UNM hiding behind journalism. The court has ruled this and presented its arguments,” Talakvadze said.

The Court has sentenced Nika Gvaramia, the owner and director of the news channel Mtavari TV, to three and a half years in prison for abusing his position and harming the financial interests of a television station he had previously run.