Publication

This brief focuses on the legal wrangling over who owns the private television station Rustavi-2 and how the dispute has led to an escalating conflict between Georgia’s government and the political opposition – i.e., the United National Movement (UNM). As far as the UNM is concerned, recent court rulings on the case may lead to restrictions on its ability to publicize its views before the parliamentary elections that are scheduled for the second half of 2016. On the other hand, by seemingly influencing the courts and media, the governing Georgian Dream party is making the same mistakes that led to UNM’s loss of power in the first place. A possible solution to the case, at least in this author’s eyes, is for the EU – without interfering in the dispute between the government and opposition – to exert pressure on Tbilisi to accelerate its judicial reforms.