Tbilisi City Court has sentenced opposition-leaning TV Formula host Vakho Sanaia to 30 days in prison over a series of social media posts that the Interior Ministry claimed were insulting to Georgian Dream figures. This is the second time the journalist has been jailed for mocking ruling party politicians and the third penalty.
Judge Tornike Kochkiani of the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Sanaia on Monday, after which the journalist was arrested. He did not attend the hearing; ‘Fight till the end, everything will be fine’, Sanaia said while being detained.
Sanaia was charged under article 173 of Georgia’s code of administrative offenses. The article prohibits verbal abuse, insults, harassment, and other offensive conduct directed at public officials in connection with their official duties. It carries a fine of ₾2,500 to ₾6,000 ($920 to $2,300) or administrative detention of five to 60 days.
This latest sentence came in response to a number of social media posts Sanaia made.
The journalist received his first sentence of 14 days’ imprisonment and a maximum ₾6,000 ($2,300) fine after he insinuated that Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and chair of the pro-government European Socialists parliamentary group Lado Bozhadze were ‘d***s’.
On 22 July, when he received the sentence, Sanaia wrote on Facebook: ‘I wrote a status saying, “Don’t call Papuashvili and Bozhadze d***s”, and I was fined ₾6,000 for it. Well, I don’t know then — I guess call them that’.
Minutes after being released from prison for the above statements on 5 August, Sanaia wrote on social media: ‘When I wrote that people shouldn’t call Papuashvili and Bozhadze d****s, I was arrested’.
‘Now, a question that has been bothering me for two weeks: If Shalva Papuashvili and Bozhadze themselves wrote, “Don’t call us d***s”, would they also end up facing jail time? Shalva, Lado, go ahead, boys! I dare you!’.
On Monday, shortly before his arrest, Sanaia wrote: ‘I am entirely sure that Shalva Papuashvili will be Shalva Papuashvili after 30 days. Same goes to Lado Bozhadze’.
The hearing also looked at a September 2024 video where Sanaia shared, in which the journalist said, ‘So, Shalva [Papuashvili]’, before cutting to a profane insult from Georgian television series My Wife’s Friends.
Sanaia has consistently made fun of ruling party figures. On 19 October, the day of his sentencing, he posted a clip from Formula showing him mocking Ivanishvili’s meeting with Georgian Dream MPs, claiming that it was like a ‘medieval painting’ and that it looked as though the MPs were deliberately bowing their heads to appear shorter than Ivanishvili, the ruling party’s founder.
Commenting on the decision, lawyer Mariam Kereselidze, who represented the Interior Ministry, noted that ‘Sanaia does not attend court hearings, does not pay the fines imposed by the court, and, while the court proceedings are ongoing, continues to engage in unlawful conduct’.
‘After becoming aware of the previous court decision, he published a post that also contained insulting language. Accordingly, we considered this to be a disregard for the court’s decision and an indication of a willingness to continue engaging in unlawful conduct’, she added as quoted by RFE/RL.
After the sentencing was announced, Sanaia told Formula that no one could forbid him from saying what he wanted to say or expressing himself.
‘The hearings themselves, which I do not attend, are absurd. There is no circumstance under which I would restrict my freedom of speech. If freedom of expression is destroyed in this country, it means that everyone will have to put a lock on their mouth — and that cannot happen’, he said.
The arrest drew criticism from rights groups. The Georgian Media Advocacy Coalition described the incident as evidence that ‘independent media and freedom of expression are under direct attack’ in the country.
Georgia’s former President Salome Zourabichvili said that Sanaia’s detention was ‘pure authoritarian paranoia’, while the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party called it a step by Ivanishvili towards ‘establishing a full-fledged dictatorship’. Lelo, another opposition party, described the court’s decision as ‘a continuation of repressive policies’ against those who hold dissenting views.