Intimidation blamed for Georgian paper's closure

THE OWNER of a major Georgian newspaper critical of president Mikheil Saakashvili said yesterday that he was closing it down after his family was intimidated by the authorities.

Malkhaz Gulashvili claimed that Georgian police harassed his teenage son and two friends last week, pointing a gun at the head of one of them and threatening to shoot. At the time, Mr Gulashvili was with several Georgian opposition figures at a Vienna conference on their country’s future, an event which he claimed angered the government in Tbilisi.

“After 17 years of uninterrupted production . . . the Georgianlanguage edition of the Georgian Times will be suspended for an indefinite period,” he said.

“In the light of this act of violence and psychological pressure I cannot offer a free and unbiased newspaper to people. Freedom of speech in Georgia is in question.”

Georgia’s interior ministry denied that any pressure was being placed on Mr Gulashvili, and insisted it knew nothing of the alleged incident involving his son.

Mr Saakashvili has faced fierce criticism since last August’s disastrous attempt to retake separatist South Ossetia, which prompted a Russian attack and Moscow’s decision to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It also caused huge damage to Georgia’s economy and Mr Saakashvili’s international reputation.

The increasingly powerful opposition is urging Mr Saakashvili to resign before a rally planned for April 9th to mark 20 years since Soviet troops killed 20 pro-independence demonstrators in Tbilisi.