In 2016, citizen Lasha Tugushi, editor in chief of  "Democracy & Freedom Watch", released the following false information about Mr. Igor Giorgadze, wrongfully alleging that our client, Mr. Giorgadze, had been tried and “sentenced to 17 years in prison in April 1997”. This statement is an absolute lie and it is defamatory, as a result of which Mr. Giorgadze’s attorneys filed a law suit against Mr. Tugushi in the Tbilisi City Court and demanded the retraction of this lie through court proceedings. 

The case is currently ongoing and no judgement has been made as of yet, however as the hearings are taking place, Mr. Tugushi continues to disseminate false information. Therefore, we would like to set the record straight with regard to an article published by Mr. Lasha Tugushi on June 7, 2018, in the English-language version of the publication (the same story in the Georgian-language article differs from the English-language version) on the "Democracy & Freedom Watch" news portal regarding the ongoing hearing that the article is a disinformation and does not correspond to reality thereby aiming to mislead the public. Specifically, Lasha Tugushi writes, “ During the first day of court proceedings, Giorgadze’s lawyers proposed an agreement, but that was rejected by DFWatch Editor-in-Chief Lasha Tughushi” this does not correspond to the truth and we want the public to know the reality of what happened during the trial; when the trial began, the judge asked both parties whether it was possible to end the dispute through negotiations. Mr. Igor Giorgadze's attorney’s position regarding the above mentioned was the following; Igor Giorgadze's lawyers would drop the law suit if Lasha Tugushi voluntarily recanted the false allegations via the same information portal where he published falsehoods regarding Mr. Giorgadze's non-existent conviction. Lasha Tugushi declined the Judge’s proposal to negotiate despite the fact that Igor Giorgadze’s lawyers submitted a document from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia which attests that Mr. Igor Giorgadze has never been convicted. The audio of the above-motioned hearing exists in the court archives.

Thus, it is clear that Lasha Tugushi continues to disseminate disinformation in direct or indirect attempt to create a wrong impression with regard to the current lawsuit and our client. Keeping in mind the above events it is hard to maintain hope with regard to Mr. Tugushi’s objective reporting, but we would like to hope that in the future Mr. Lasha Tugushi will refrain from spreading false information regarding the court hearings as well as our client.