Tbilisi Court of Appeals upheld on June 10th the ruling of lower court in favor of Kibar Khalvashi, who seeks reclaiming shares in the Rustavi 2 TV, which he owned about a decade ago, Civil.ge reports.
Natalia Nazgaidze, who chaired the three-judge panel, said that the ruling can be appealed to the Supreme Court within 21 days after the justification of the decision is handed over to the parties.
Rustavi 2 TV and many of the opposition parties say that the court case is an attempt by the authorities, and specifically by ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is widely considered to be still wielding much influence on government, to silence the television station critical of government’s policies.
“We were expecting such ruling… As we were saying the verdict was written in advance,” one of Rustavi 2 TV’s lawyers, Tamta Muradashvili, said after the ruling was handed down on Friday morning.
