TBILISI, DFWatch — A former editor of Forbes Georgia has been appointed as new director of Imedi TV, which used to be one of the government-controlled channels during the previous government.

Shortly after the parliamentary election, the former owners of Imedi made an effort to reclaim the channel. The old management left, and news and entertainment programs were suspended.

Revaz Sakevarishvili, who used to be editor of Forbes Georgia, has now been appointed to the top position at Imedi, replacing Giorgi Lominadze, who has chaired Imedi since February 2011.

In March 2012, the Forbes editor resigned after he published an interview with Bidzina Ivanishvili, the current prime minister who was then in the midst of an intense election campaign. Sakevarishvili at the time said this was censorship and an attempt at interfering in the editorial policy of the publication.

When Georgian Dream coalition won the election on October 1, the family of the deceased billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, the original owner of Imedi, succeeded in regaining control over the TV station.

Until then it had been run by Giorgi Arveladze, a close personal ally of President Saakshvili, and a former economy minister. He left the post after Saakashvili’s party lost the election.

When the Patarkatsishvili family took back Imedi, most of the employees were fired, and part of them resigned.

Baia Tsanava, editor in chief of the well-known news agency Interpressnews was appointed as chair of Imedi’s news department. The TV station will soon begin broadcasting news again.