Imedi TV owner on 2007 crackdown: November 7 was terrible day for Imedi and all of us

Irakli Rukhade, the owner of Imedi TV and a businessman, on Friday addressed the ongoing controversy surrounding the channel, linking current “harassment” of staff to a dark chapter in Georgia’s media history.

Rukhadze began by extending “special thanks to our viewers, because of whom Imedi TV is the number one TV channel. This is happening precisely because you are so good and strong, which troubles many people, just as it troubled them 18 years ago”.

The comments came in response to a question regarding the current “harassment of Imedi TV employees, the bullying, and insults in the digital world”, asking if the events of November 7, 2007 had truly ended.

Rukhadze stressed that free speech was the most crucial gain of the Georgian people, and that many things in the country could not happen without it.

He then drew a direct parallel to the events of November 7, 2007, when the then-government used force to raid and shut down the TV station.

“Imedi was strong, it was saying things that the government at the time did not like, and instead of confronting the word with a word, they confronted the word with force. Since they couldn't defeat the word, they moved to other methods. This was an incredibly bad day for Imedi and for all of us”, he stressed.

Rukhadze further asserted that Badri Patarkatsishvili, the founder of Imedi, died because of the November 7 events.

“He was 52 years old, younger than me... I am convinced that this killed him. It killed him and destroyed the rest of us in different ways”, Rukhadze continued.

The businessman claimed the crackdown on Imedi was the start of a broader national crisis.

“What happened in Georgia was the suppression of free speech, which was followed by the suppression of everything else”, he noted.

He added that after suppressing free speech, the then-government “imprisoned 300,000 people, including children, the elderly, and women - 10% of the population ended up in prison”.

Rukhadze concluded by reiterating the critical value of a free press.

“Freedom of speech is one of the greatest achievements of this country, an extraordinary accomplishment of the Georgian people. Without it, many things cannot happen here. And if something is to happen, first they must suppress us”, he concluded.

Today marks 18 years since the events of November 7, 2007. On that day, following the dispersal of peaceful demonstrations at several locations in Tbilisi, the Government of then-President Mikheil Saakashvili stormed the offices of TV company Imedi.

Special forces raided the station, vandalized equipment, and took the channel off the air. Armed and masked officers broke through metal barricades after surrounding the building’s perimeter, entered the premises, forced employees to the ground, and physically assaulted several staff members, some of whom were seriously injured.