Public TV Accused of Providing ‘Positive PR’ for Interior Minister

New Rights opposition party said on March 19 the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s (GPB) interview with Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili last week was a clear attempt by the public television to restore the Minister’s damaged reputation.

Minister Merabishvili was invited for an interview by the GPB’s daily program Comment of the Day on March 16 to talk about the authorities’ plans to launch a large-scale anti-drug campaign. It was his one of the rare media interviews.

“When Minister Merabishvili again appears on the TV screens after a long pause and he is not asked questions about the most interesting issues for the society, such as Sandro Girgvliani and Amiran Robakidze‘s murder cases and [last year’s] prison riot, it is obvious, that it is an ill-fated attempt to rehabilitate his reputation,” a statement issued by the New Rights parliamentary group says, adding that the authorities’ attempts to portray Merabishvili as “knight fighting against drug dealers” is doomed to a failure.

As a last question, Davit Aprasidze, an anchor of the GPB’s program Comment of the Day, asked Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili whether he planned to resign amid increasing criticism voiced against him by the opponents.

Merabishvili responded that he has no plans to resign.

Merabishvili became one of the major targets of opposition parties’ criticisms in the President Saakashvili’s administration because of high-profile murder cases of Sandro Girgvliani and Amiran Robakidze. He is accused by the opponents of covering up several ex-Interior Ministry officials who have allegedly been somehow involved to these murder cases. Opposition demands in vain Merabishvili’s resignation since early 2006.

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