
Batumelebi Says Police Deliberately Targeted its Cameraman
Batumelebi online newspaper alleged the police purposefully targeted its cameraman, Guram Murvanidze, on the night of January 12 and called international partners to intercede. Murvanidze was arrested in the coastal city of Batumi during a protest at the local police department building.
“Guram’s account underscores that the police’s aggression escalated after he disclosed his affiliation with “Batumelebi,” the publication says in its letter addressed to the international partners.
The letter reads that Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze asked Murvanidze, who was filming the scene, to identify himself and that his disclosure of the affiliation with Batumelebi “prompted verbal insults and swearing directed at the publication by Chief Dgebuadze, who instructed officers to seize Guram’s phone.” The cameraman reported that he was verbally abused after his arrest. Batumulebi adds that the police chief later denied knowing the cameraman’s identity.
Murvanidze faces administrative charges of petty hooliganism and disobeying a lawful order of a police officer. His attorney says that the police actions represent “a deliberate effort to obstruct his journalistic activities and a targeted attack on the publication Batumelebi.“
A day before Murvanidze’s arrest, the police arrested the founder and director of the same publication, Mzia Amaglobeli. On January 13, she was charged with assaulting a police officer, carrying a prison sentence of four to seven years. She also reported ill-treatment by the police following her arrest.
Batumulebi has called on its partners “to address these unacceptable violations of journalistic freedoms and to ensure accountability for those responsible.”
The newspaper Batumelebi was founded in 2001 in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara. Together with its sister national online magazine Netgazeti, it is one of the most respected publications in Georgia. Its journalists have also faced pressure and reprisals in the past.
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