Georgia’s Interior Ministry has upheld its decision to fine April editor-in-chief Khatia Ghoghoberidze ₾5,000 ($1,800) for ‘blocking a road’ while covering a demonstration in late March.
According to April, Ghoghoberidze was fined while covering a women’s march on 29 March.
They said that she was informed about the fine by the Interior Ministry on 4 April, and that she had written an appeal against the fine, and that the ministry took another month to investigate the accusations against her, but ultimately deciding to uphold the decision to fine her.
According to the independent media outlet, following Ghoghoberidze’s appeal, the ministry requested evidence that would acquit the journalist, including ‘published materials’.
In response, April explained to the agency that covering protests does not necessarily require publishing material acquired during the protest, and that a ‘journalist may spend weeks and months investigating a specific issue, which will be published later or, for some reason, may not become public at all’.
‘We also noted that journalistic activity includes collecting material for the purpose of further reporting, as well as observing processes’, wrote the media outlet. ‘In addition, a journalist may be present in the territory for the purpose of working and observing surrounding actions, and decide whether to cover them or not based on the value of the story’.
‘This is solely up to the editorial team’, the media outlet wrote, adding that they nevertheless provided the Interior Ministry with any material produced by April that day.
April concluded its statement by saying that the Interior Ministry’s decision to fine Ghoghoberidze indicated that they viewed her as a protester, and not a journalist, and that she intends to appeal the ministry’s decision in court.
The ruling Georgian Dream party amended the administrative offences code to increase fines for blocking roads from ₾500 ($180) to ₾5,000 ($1,800) in late 2024. Over the last couple of months, numerous fines have been issued against anti-government demonstrators based on the same charge, with some individuals being repeatedly fined multiple times. In addition to protesters, the police have also penalised several journalists.
OC Media’s photographer and co-founder Mariam Nikuradze has been fined for blocking the road while covering protests four times, with her fines reaching a total of ₾20,000 ($7,300).
Nate Ostiller
