Friday.  Issue Two.  08*16*1996 FREEDOM OF SPEECH

   * THE MANAGEMENT OF THE TELEVISION CHENNEL "RUSTAVI 2" IS GOING TO
ORGA- NIZE SEVERAL PROTEST ACTIONS, BECAUSE IT WAS LEFT WITHOUT A CHENNEL. 
The management of the television company, think, that the court hearing
which took place because of this fact was tendentous.  All this was said
today at the press conference by one of the founders of the television
chennel "Rus- tavi 2" Erosi Kitsmarishvili. 

   * YESTERDAY THEY DISCUSSED THE DECISION OF THE COURT TO TAKE THE RIGHT
OF THE COMPANY "RUSTAVI 2" TO HAVE IT'S CHENNEL, IN THE EMBASSY OF THE
USA.  The representatives of OSCE, NDI, of the embassy of Great Britan and
the USA and also Georgian lawers and the management of the television
chennel participated in this discussion.  It was decided that the decision
of the court was not right, and is a violation of the freedom of speech.
The prep- resentatives of the international organizations intend to appial
to the co- urt of the highest level and to be at the next hearing, which
will take place in the city court of Tbilisi. 

   * THEY DID NOT TAKE THE LICENCE AWAY FROM THE TELEVISION COMPANY
"RUSTA- VI 2", THEY JUST TURNED OFF THEIR CHENNEL ILLEGALY. This was said
today at the press conference by the deputy chairman of the parliamentary
committee on consitutional, justice issues and legality Koba Davitashvili. 
He said, that there is no such order of the licencing commission on
terminating the licence of the advertisment-information agency "GAMA PLUS"
for showing on the television chennel "Rustavi 2".  The licencing
commission did not even discuss this issue.  According to him the decision
was made by some of the heads of the ministry of communication.  (For more
information see "Press conference"). 

P R E S S C O N F E R E N C E

		Today the founders of the television chennel "Rustavi 2" and
                the representatives of the international organizations in 
		Georgia held a press conference Correspondent of BGI Neli
		Mzhavanadze reports.
 
   The deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on constitutional,
legal issues and legality Koba Davitashvili. 
   - I officially state, that there is no order about taking the licence
away from the chennel "Rustavi 2".  All this was done by the officials of
the government, illegally.  The officials acted illegally even last year,
when the television chennel was turned off for some time.  The law has
been broken this year again.  Now it is a crime. 
   Press informed, that the ministry of connection took the licence away
from "Rustavi 2". This is not so. The order like this just does not
exhist.  They just turned off the television chennel off. 
   I want to show the decision of our parliamentary committee.  It is said
in the decision that some of the officials illegally turned off the
televi- sion chennel "Rustavi 2" and violated the 24th article of the
Constitution of Georgia and the 26th article of the law on press and mass
information sources. 
   These article do not let anyone to interfere with the work of the mass
information sources. 
   Now about the court, which took place in the Mtatsminda region of
Tbili- si. The court violated several laws, including the law on business. 
It is said there, that they can do anything if it is not against the law. 
   Which means, that even if there were some mistakes in the rules of
"Gam- ma Plus" the management of the advertisement-information agency had
to be informed about it, and they had to be given three months for getting
rid of these mistakes.  They could not do anything against "Rustavi 2"
until that. 
   The representative of the assiciation of the lawers of the USA in
Tbili- si Robert Lamont:  "This kind of solving of the issue and the
strange usage of the laws results in some carefullness in Western
investors. They are go- ing to stop because they will not see any
guarantees of the the safety of their investments.  The decision of the
Mtatsminda court does not coincide with any standards". 
   The defense attorney of the television chennel "Rustavi 2" Lia Mukhsha-
via: "Let us start from the point that it is possible to turn off the
chen- nel only after the court made it's decision.  In this case the
decision was made by the ministry of communications long before the court
process star- ted. Concerning the decision of the court of Mtatsminda
region, it is just illegal". 
   After this the questions followed. 
   - You make us think, that someone does not want this chennel to exhist. 
Can you name any concrete persons? 
   Erosi Kitsmarishvili, one of the founders of "Rustavi 2":  "We thought
the same when saw what happened. It is not our job to name anyone. We
found out that they are going to have a tender for this chennel.  It's
partici- pants are also interested in this.  This is one more unfare
action of the ministry connection made against us". 
   - Will the fact of closing the independant television chennel influence
Georgia getting into the Europian union? 
   Omi Cerry, the representative of the embassy of the USA on culture to
Georgia: "I cannot talk from the name of the Europian Union, but it is a
fact, that you have to have laws coinciding with the international stan-
dards when getting into the union.  The embassy of the USA will be looking
after this process, because it is necessary to act according to the laws
when you have a democracy". 
   Ivashkevich, representative of the OSCE:  "We are interested in this
case. The end of it will let us see a lot of new staff". 

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