Anti-Torture TV Advertisements Forbidden

On December 16 the Georgian Antimonopoly Service banned the broadcast of anti-torture TV advertisements. The supreme goal of these advertisements was to inform the society that torture is prohibited and punished by the Georgian legislation. Advertisements were considered by the Georgian Interior Ministry as humiliating the image of police.

Nana Kakabadze, head of the NGO “Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights”, said, the Antimonopoly Service decided to “temporarily” ban these advertisements after receiving a letter from the Interior Ministry, which states that these advertisements violate policemen’s rights and humiliate their image.

The anti-torture advertisements were developed within the framework of the EU-financed project by the abovementioned NGO and were broadcasted on different TV channels within a year.

According to Nana Kakabadze, TV companies were subjected to constant pressure from the authorities not to broadcast these advertisements. She describes the prohibition of advertisements as violation of freedom of speech and expression.

Ms. Kakabadze plans to meet with the representatives of the European Union to discuss this case, as well as to use all possible legal levers to restore the broadcasting.