kvirikashvili-giorgi

PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s prime minister proposes creating an office of media ombudsman.

The PM’s proposal comes at the same time as the situation surrounding a lawsuit about the country’s most popular TV company remains in a deadlock.

After a meeting with PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili on Monday, members of an activist group called Media Advocacy said the PM proposed Dunja Mijatović as a candidate to occupy the new post.

Mijatović is an expert on media regulation from Bosnia and Herzegovina who served as OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media in 2010-2016.

The situation surrounding Rustavi 2 was on the verge of escalating with protesters erecting a tent camp outside the studios when the European Court of Human Rights told the Georgian government to wait with enforcing a Supreme Court ruling about ownership over the TV company until the Strasbourg court has had time to study the case.

Rustavi 2’s management and some observers argue that forcefully giving ownership of the company back to a previous owner is a plan by the government to silence a critical media outlet.