“Whose life will be better because of this? Papuashvili, Bozhadze, will you sleep peacefully for 14 days? Aren’t you afraid of Vakho Sanaia’s humor? What is going on? They will not silence Vakho with this,” Formula TV journalist Eliso Jariashvili said in response to the court’s decision to sentence journalist Vakho Sanaia to 14 days of administrative detention.

According to Jariashvili, the court’s decision also represents personal retaliation against Vakho Sanaia.

“I am deeply convinced that this is also personal retaliation against Vakho Sanaia and, of course, an attack on free and independent media, which is very persistent and which the regime has failed to silence. Extreme measures are being taken. The fine was the maximum amount—GEL 6,000. Now there is also 14 days of imprisonment. For those who still have illusions about the kind of country the oligarchic regime is making us live in, I ask them to think about this: they invaded a person’s private space, and the regime is sending a person to prison for a joke. A journalist who holds critical views.

Whose life will be better because of this? Papuashvili, Bozhadze, will you sleep peacefully for 14 days? Aren’t you afraid of Vakho Sanaia’s humor, or what is going on? It is self-evident that this will not silence Vakho or those who continue their struggle. The regime will not achieve the result it wants,” Eliso Jariashvili said.

For reference, today the Tbilisi City Court sentenced journalist Vakho Sanaia to 14 days of administrative detention over a social media post concerning Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and MP Vladimir Bozhadze. The decision was issued by Judge Zviad Tsekvava. The Hate Speech Combat Unit established at the Ministry of Internal Affairs had filed the case with the Tbilisi City Court for a legal response to the post.