On April 15, according to TV Pirveli, the bank accounts of Maka Chikhladze, a journalist for the channel’s Saturday broadcast, were frozen. On social media, Irakli Datunashvili (known online as Leo Nafta), the Georgia editor for the online publication JamNews, also wrote that his bank accounts had been frozen. According to his information, the basis for the freeze is cited as a fine from October 15, the existence of which he had not been informed of until now.

According to Nodar Meladze, head of the news service, Maka Chikhladze was covering ongoing events on Rustaveli Avenue in the line of professional duty on October 15, 2025, which led to her being fined 5,000 GEL on charges of “artificially blocking the road.” He stated that the journalist was not notified of this fine and subsequently had her accounts frozen.

Maka Chikhladze herself states that she only learned about the existence of the fine after her accounts were frozen.

“In such a large agency as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they couldn’t find the resources to send me a single SMS… if they had simply notified me that I had been fined, I would have looked into it and proven that I was performing my professional duties. I didn’t know about it until my accounts were frozen,” Chikhladze said.

In her assessment, the case may be related to her journalistic activities. “I believe this is an act of revenge and has nothing to do with the law on assembly and manifestation or any actual violation,” she noted. Chikhladze also points out that representatives of other media outlets were also working at the scene, yet she was the only one targeted with a fine.

On December 7, 2024, on Besiki Street in Tbilisi, TV Pirveli journalist Maka Chikhladze and cameraman Giorgi Shetsiruli were attacked and physically assaulted by unidentified masked individuals while working on a live broadcast. The investigation launched into that incident has not yet been concluded.