On October 25, Kakha Melikidze, the director of the on-air equipment and technology group at the Georgian Public Broadcaster, wrote on social media that he had received another warning from the channel and would be fined 30% of his November salary.

Melikidze noted that the reason for this was an interview he gave to the international publication Internazionale. In the interview, he spoke about the suspension of Georgia’s EU accession talks by Georgian Dream’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and the developments surrounding Channel One.

“I received a second warning, and it will probably be over soon, and I will be fired from the Public Broadcaster,” Melikidze wrote on Facebook.

The Public Broadcaster first imposed disciplinary sanctions on Kakha Melikidze in April, along with other journalists critical of the channel. At that time, the channel’s management considered the employees’ actions to be “calling into question the broadcaster’s editorial independence and impartiality through statements disseminated in public space and, as a result, causing reputational damage to the employer.”