Tbilisi City Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by TV Pirveli journalists Nanuka Kajaia, Natalia Kajaia, and Mariam Gaprindashvili against the pro-government outlet POSTV. The journalists sued POSTV for defamation following reports alleging they received $30,000 salaries from Temur Chkonia, the businessman and founder of Coca-Cola.
According to TV Pirveli lawyer Tornike Migineishvili, although the burden of proof rested with the defendant under the law, the plaintiffs submitted numerous documents to the court. These included: a recording of a phone conversation with Temur Chkonia; salary and employment records from TV Pirveli; bank statements from every commercial bank covering several years of transactions for each journalist; and rulings confirming that POSTV had violated journalistic standards in preparing the segment. They also presented all stories and statements demonstrating the “TV company’s” sole intent: an attempt to discredit the plaintiff journalists. Nevertheless, the dispute ended in a victory for the sanctioned media outlet.
At the same time, the lawyer emphasized that the opposing side failed to present a single piece of documentation.
