Nika Gvaramia

13 Posts

•

0 Followers

Nika Melia (left) and Nika Gvaramia (right) at the unveling of their new party, Ahali. Screengrab via Mtavari Arkhi.

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Gvaramia and Melia present new opposition party

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•2 min read

Nika Melia, the former chair of the United National Movement (UNM), Georgia’s largest opposition party, and Nika Gvaramia, the founder of opposition TV channel Mtavari Arkhi, have officially unveiled their new political party, Ahali (‘New’). Announcing the party’s formation, Gvaramia stated that his and Melia’s party would fight for changes in Georgia ‘in new ways’. ‘We will change [it] because we know the struggle, we know the price of integrity, we know the price of serving the motherland,

Nika Gvaramia addressing an anti-government demonstration on 17 July 2021 in Tbilisi. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Gvaramia transfers Mtavari Arkhi shares to wife in move to politics

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•2 min read

Nika Gvaramia has formally resigned as opposition TV Mtavari Arkhi’s general director, transferring his shares to his wife ahead of his return to politics. Gvaramia announced his departure from Mtavari Arkhi and the handover of his shares on Wednesday, stating that owning stakes in the channel was ‘incompatible with the party position that I will hold in the coming days’. ‘That’s why I complied with the requirements of the law and transferred the share to my [wife] Sofo [Liluashvili]’, said

Freedom of the Press

Georgian president pardons Nika Gvaramia

by OC Media

•2 min read

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has pardoned Nika Gvaramia, the imprisoned head of pro-opposition TV channel Mtavari, three days after the Supreme Court upheld his conviction. Gvaramia was convicted by Tbilisi City Court in May 2022 for allegedly embezzling money as the director of another TV company, Rustavi 2. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. His imprisonment, widely seen as being politically motivated, had been condemned internationally, including by the US a

Tbilisi City Court Judge Lasha Chkhikvadze. Photo: Mzia Saganelidze/ RFE/RL.

Georgia

Georgian judge says US revoked invite following Gvaramia ruling

by Shota Kincha

•2 min read

The Georgian judge who convicted the director of TV channel Mtavari, Nika Gvaramia, has accused the US of pressuring Georgia’s judiciary, confirming claims that the US revoked an invitation to a study tour in the country after his controversial ruling. Tbilisi City Court Judge Lasha Chkhikvadze sentenced Gvaramia to three and a half years in prison in May for mismanaging Rustavi 2’s finances. The ruling has been widely criticised by local and international rights groups as both legally unsubst

Protesters let off flares outside parliament demanding the release of Mtavati Arkhi director Nika Gvaramia. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Freedom of the Press

Protests and Western condemnation follow jailing of Georgian government critic

by Shota Kincha

•4 min read

The jailing of opposition TV head Nika Gvaramia in Georgia has provoked protests and condemnation from abroad. Several thousand people took to the streets of the capital Tbilisi on Wednesday over what they called the politically motivated persecution of Gvaramia, the co-founder and director of opposition TV channel Mtavari Arkhi. The demonstration was organised by local media groups and was joined by opposition politicians and civil society organisations. On Monday, Tbilisi City Court sent

Nika Gvaramia being placed in handcuffs and led from the court. Photo: Keta Tsitskishvili.

Freedom of the Press

Director of pro-opposition TV channel jailed for 3.5 years in Georgia

by Shota Kincha

•2 min read

Tbilisi City Court has sentenced Nika Gvaramia, the director of opposition-leaning TV channel Mtavari and one of the lawyers of Mikheil Saakashvili, to three years and six months in prison for abusing his position. Gvaramia was on trial for crimes allegedly committed while the director of another TV company, Rustavi 2. He was charged in 2020 with abuse of power and embezzling property at Rustavi 2, commercial bribery, and forging documents. He was found not guilty on the last three counts.

An event presenting Georgian Dream’s Sighnaghi mayoral candidate Malkhaz Begiashvili, who was allegedly recruited as an informant for the security services codenamed ‘Cherokee’.

2021 Georgian Local Elections

Cherokee, Gorky, and Mamluk — Georgian Dream candidates accused of being security services assets

by Shota Kincha

•2 min read

The Georgian Dream mayoral candidates for 23 municipalities and cities in Georgia were either recruited as informants for law enforcement or security services or are former employees, TV station Mtavari has alleged. In his programme ‘Mtavari Aktsentebi’ (‘focus areas’) on Sunday, the channel’s director, Nika Gvaramia, presented what he described as secret files leaked from Georgian law enforcement agencies. The local elections in Georgia planned for 2 October are widely viewed as a referendu