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Fistfight in Tbilisi Airport after Man Insults Rustavi 2 TV Crew

A fistfight erupted in the Tbilisi international airport in the early hours of Sunday morning after Rustavi 2 TV crew was verbally insulted by a man.

Rustavi 2 TV’s reporter Elene Pirtskhalaishvili and cameraman Giorgi Tsanava were in the airport for recording comments from Georgian lawmakers, who were departing for participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe’s (PACE) session in Strasbourg.

According to Rustavi 2 TV reporter, Elene Pirtskhalaishvili, she was speaking with MP from opposition UNM party, Chiora Taktakishvili, when unknown young man approached and verbally insulted them; she said that when cameraman Giorgi Tsanava reacted by asking him why he was insulting them, the man got even more aggressive, which grew into a physical confrontation between the man and the cameraman; the Rustavi 2 TV reporter also said that several others, who were accompanying the assailant, were also involved in the beating of the cameraman.

UNM MP Taktakishvili said that the man threw insults at the TV crew just because the journalist and the cameraman were working for the Rustavi 2 TV. She also said that she tried to capture the incident on mobile phone but was confronted by several people, accompanying the man who insulted the TV crew.

Later on Sunday afternoon the Interior Ministry released a written statement, accompanied by a silent CCTV footage from the airport, showing part of the incident.

The ministry said that the cameraman was insulted by the man, whose full name was not released, who then walked away. “Investigation has found that [the cameraman] chased him and physically insulted him, followed by verbal and physical confrontation between them,” the Interior Ministry said, adding that the both of them have been interviewed by the police and as of now they “have no complaints against each other.”

The one minute and 14 second-long video footage from CCTV camera, released by the Interior Ministry, starts from the moment the man walks away from Rustavi 2 TV journalist, cameraman and MP Taktakishvili; but then he stops, turns back in direction of the TV crew – his gestures were suggesting that he was apparently again shouting insults. The cameraman unslung tripod and TV camera from his shoulder, placed them on the floor and went in direction of the man, who was insulting the TV crew, which was then followed by the fistfight. Meanwhile, a woman was seen confronting MP Taktakishvili as she was trying to capture the incident on mobile phone.

After the footage was released, Rustavi 2 TV’s journalist Elene Pirtskhalaishvili said that this fragment of video did not give a full picture and in combination with its statement the Interior Ministry was trying to shift blame on the TV crew itself for the incident.

“It is regrettable that the Interior Ministry points finger at journalists – the ones who were the victims of aggressive behavior,” she said.

The Interior Ministry launched the investigation under the clause of the criminal code, which deals with cases of beating. But director of the Rustavi 2 TV, Nika Gvaramia, said that the incident should also be treated under the article of the criminal code, which deals with cases of obstruction to journalists’ professional activities. But the Interior Ministry said that the incident occurred after the TV crew had finished its professional activities in the airport.

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