Three opposition channels in Georgia face sanctions for refusing to advertise with destroyed cities in Ukraine

Opposition TV channels Formula, Mtavari, and TV Pirveli refused to air election ads of the ruling Georgian Dream party featuring destroyed Ukrainian cities and now face heavy fines, Newsgeorgia reports, citing a joint statement by the TV companies.

According to the report, Georgia's ruling party presented a series of election posters and videos urging voters to "choose peace" and say "no to war." They contrast images of Ukrainian cities destroyed by Russian troops with images of churches, parks, and new buses in Georgia.

TV companies consider the clips to be "Russian propaganda" and "mockery of the Ukrainian people."

The journalists share the assessment of the EU Ambassador to Georgia, Pawel Gerczynski, who called the ruling party's advertisements "outrageous, shameful and disgusting." The ambassador emphasized that the price of peace in Georgia and the European Union was "the sacrifice of the Ukrainian people, and they deserve our deepest respect."

Formula, Mtavari, and TV Pirveli are asking for support from human rights organizations and diplomatic missions of Western countries.

The joint statement of the TV companies reads in part: "The Ivanishvili-dependent government is putting us in a dilemma - either we air the above videos or we face huge fines that could lead to the threat of the channels' shutdown."

According to the law, a month before the elections, Georgian TV channels are obliged to provide free advertising time to all parties represented in the parliament. At least 7.5 minutes of airtime is allocated for this purpose during every 3 hours of broadcasting.

In September, Formula, Mtavari, and TV Pirveli were fined for refusing to air another provocative Georgian Dream advertisement. This is a video with the slogan "Say no to the moral degeneration of society" against the background of images of Georgian activists and civil society representatives.

As a reminder, Georgia will hold parliamentary elections on October 26. The election is expected to be a sharp confrontation between the pro-Russian ruling party Georgian Dream and the opposition.

Earlier, Intent wrote that in May, the ruling party of Georgia managed to pass the law "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" in the parliament. This law is better known as the law on foreign agents, similar to its Russian counterpart, which is why Georgians often refer to it as the Russian law.

Ігор Льов