Georgia
Reporter finishes prison term for 'blackmail'Posted Sep 23 2009
Georgian journalist Shalva Ramishvili was released from prison Aug. 26 after serving four years for alleged blackmail.
Ramishvili is the co-founder and former reporter of the independent TV station 202. Ramishvili and the station’s managing editor, David Kokhreidze, were accused of blackmailing Koba Bekauri, a deputy in the ruling party, during a 2005 interview on a political talk show. According to the charges, the journalists had compromising information about Bekauri, and asked for $100,000 to hold their silence. The deputy secretly filmed the journalists, and the recording was used as evidence against them.
Kokhreidze was imprisoned for three years, but was pardoned in 2007. Ramishvili refused to apply for a pardon because it would involve an admission of guilt, the Tbilisi-based Human Rights Center told the International Press Institute. Both journalists maintained their innocence throughout the process.
“We do not believe that the judge sufficiently took into account the occupations of the accused and their sometimes radical methods of investigation designed to trap corrupt officials,” Reporters Without Borders said of the convictions.
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