Journalist and Formula TV host Vakho Sanaia has left the temporary detention isolator after serving a 14-day administrative sentence. He was released a short time ago.
“We will not be influenced by any imprisonment, fine, or crackdown in the way the de facto ruler may intend,” said journalist Vakho Sanaia after leaving prison. “No matter how many times they put us behind bars, and no matter what fines they impose, our fight will continue. I would like to remind everyone of our slogan – until the end! All the way to the end, until victory!”
Sanaia, a journalist with TV company ‘Formula’, was sentenced to 14 days of administrative detention by Tbilisi City Court Judge Zviad Tsekvava on July 22. The court found Sanaia guilty over a social media post he wrote about Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and MP Vladimer Bozhadze. The Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Department for Combating Hate Speech requested legal action against Sanaia over the post.
The detention followed a 6,000 GEL fine issued to Sanaia on July 10 by Judge Tornike Kochkiani over another Facebook post. After receiving the fine, Sanaia published another post criticizing the decision.Since June 1, when inspectors from the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ newly established Hate Speech Department began monitoring social media, several people have been fined between 1,500 and 6,000 GEL.
Sanaia is the first journalist to receive an administrative detention sentence under the new measures.
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