Nicar Guarami, a well-known journalist and owner of the opposition support channel Mtavari TV, has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in Georgia on Monday.
A Tbilisi city court judge has found Guaramia guilty of damaging the finances of his previously run television channel.
Guaramia himself has stated that the lawsuit against him is aimed at silencing the media criticizing the government.
The journalist’s lawyer, Dito Sadzaglychvili, described the verdict as illegal and political imprisonment. “Political repression is taking place in Georgia,” he told AFP.
“In democracies, journalists are not imprisoned for opposing views,” the lawyer added.
Guaramia has also been a lawyer for former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili is serving a six-year prison sentence for abuse of power. The former president of Georgia calls the conviction politically motivated.
Georgian television broadcasters and television executives have long accused the ruling Georgian dream of using the justice system to silence critics.
Advocates have also expressed concern about media freedom in Georgia, noting that investigations have been launched against almost all directors and owners of independent television channels criticizing the government.
In October 2015, Guaramya said a government mediator had threatened to release secretly recorded videos showing his “private life” unless he left the journalistic profession.
In 2007-2009, Guaramya held several positions in the Saakashvili government, overseeing the fight against corruption.
Since Georgia gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, relations between the authorities and the independent media have often been strained.
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