Patarkatsishvili: ‘I’ll Continue to Oppose Saakashvili’

Imedi TV has suspended broadcasts because of “pressure and blackmail” exerted by the authorities, the station’s co-owner and presidential candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili has said.

“I will spare no efforts to ensure this criminal regime doesn’t prevail over the people,” Patarkatsishvili said in a written statement issued by his press office on December 26. “Despite this blackmail and threats, I will continue the political fight against the current regime [in Georgia].”

The statement was released shortly after Imedi TV staff and management said the television station was “temporarily suspending” broadcasts “to distance ourselves from dirty political games” and in protest against both its owner and the authorities.

“The authorities are desperate,” Patarkatsishvili also said, “and so they are doing everything to survive.”  “I have no doubt that Saakashvili will not return to the presidential throne. I am sure that on January 6, 2008 we will again see Imedi TV as free as it has always been,” he said.

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