GEODIGEST

The Journalistic Ethics Charter Council of Georgia did not find a violation of principles 1 and 11 in Rusudan Gvazawa's article, which talks about the pressure exerted by Alexander Bezhentsev on the editor of the Russian-language newspaper. According to the charter statement, there is no place to spread incorrect and/or unverified information.
"Alexandre Bezhentsev appealed to me with the statement of the Charter Council of Journalistic Ethics of Georgia, who believed that in the article "Я покончу с Мирандой" published on the website geodigest.ge - why did the partner of the Russian PRAVFOND threaten the editor of the newspaper in Georgia? Principles 1 and 11 of the Charter were violated. Journalist Rusudan Gwazawa was identified as the defendant", - it is written on the website of the Charter.

The statement also states that "the defendant Rusudan Gvazawa presented two audio recordings, according to which he had a telephone conversation with both Alexander Bezhentsev and his representative, in particular, the journalist contacted them in order to get answers and reflect them in the journalistic product."

The article describes how the partner of the organization ПРАВФОНД – Фон продуждения и защить прав соотечественников "https://www.facebook.com/pravfond.ru/" and the deputy chairman of the Coordination Council of the Organizations of Russian Compatriots of Georgia (КСОРСГ) forced Alexander Bezhentsev to the newspaper "Соотечественник". "to write an insulting, compromising article to the editor-in-chief of "Tanamemule" Miranda Oganezova. It was mentioned in the material that Bezhentsev was accused by one of his colleagues from КСОРСГ of financial manipulations, illegal use of weapons, for which he was given a suspended sentence. Therefore, the journalist had to write about him as a mentally ill person and a representative of the sexual minority in a negative context.

Journalist Rusudan Gvazawa contacted Bezhentsev, but he refused to comment.

Gvazawa notes that after this conversation, Alexander Bezhentsev's representative Neli Kartvelishvili called him and said that Miranda Oganezova did not work as an editor of the newspaper "Соотечественник" ("Compatriot") and she was just filling out a bulletin that is not distributed anywhere. Neli Kartvelishvili was also the representative of Alexander Bezhentsev during the discussion of the case held in the Council of Journalistic Ethics Charter of Georgia, where he voiced Bezhentsev's position.

"During the preparation of the article, I was contacted by Ms. Neli Kartvelishvili, who emphasized that Miranda Oganezova was filling in the KСОРСГ (КСОРСГ) bulletin, which was not published anywhere, and that Oganezova was not the editor of the "Tanamemule" newspaper. According to him, this publication is not a newspaper. "This is nothing, it is an informative bulletin and this is the position of the leadership (XORSG). Of course, it has been recorded that it is not published and there is no newspaper, nothing," said Kartvelishvili. He mentioned from the beginning that he is a representative of Alexander Bezhentsev, a lawyer. Kartvelishvili also stated that "Oganezova did not work as a journalist and started working in the newspaper "Argumenti and Facti" after us (Ksorsg, "Tanememulle")", says Gvazawa.

During the review of the charter, Bezhentsev's representative first objected to the fact that the Bezhentsev Center is mentioned as a partner of PRAVFOND. He calls this information incorrect and distorted and notes that the article should have reflected the fact that Bezhentsev receives funding from the United States of America and the European Union.

In the article for which Bezhentsev appealed to the Charter, it was described that he used various methods of pressure on the journalist: psychological pressure, discrediting, unmotivated claims in order to force the editor to resign.

As the chairman of the Audit Board of KСОРСГ, lawyer Marine Babunashvili said in the article that the organizations included in KСОРСГ positively note the great work done by Oganezova for the image of the newspaper «Соотечественник» and the council in general, the chairman of the council N. Sventytskyi personally handed over a certificate of thanks: "To the council All members were aware of the content of the problem, which arose due to the gross interference in the editorial policy by an unauthorized person."

Lawyer Larisa Agabalayeva, a refugee from Sukhumi, notes that after the editor's departure, Bezhentsev took his place arbitrarily.

Agabalayeva also became a victim of Bezhentsev's harassment and was brought to a pre-infarction state. The article mentioned that the members of the Russian-speaking community КСОРСГ also objected to Bezhentsev's xenophobic statement: "Aren't there too many people these days, not even of Slavic nationality..." and emphasized that he himself is "Russian by mother, father, grandfather".

According to the first principle of the Charter: "A journalist must respect the truth and the public's right to receive accurate information." The resolution part of the charter states:  

"Based on everything mentioned, it is clear that the journalist made an effort to provide the readers with the position of both parties, and pointed out the comment of Bezhentsev's representative in good faith, therefore, the violation of the first principle of the Charter by the journalist is excluded. Principle 11 of the Charter: "A journalist should consider the following actions to be the most serious professional crime: Deliberate distortion of the facts." As mentioned, the Council did not establish a violation of the first principle of the Charter, therefore, a violation of the 11th principle was also excluded: if there is no place for the dissemination of incorrect and/or unverified information [precondition], therefore, there can be no question of intent."

ჯეო დაიჯესტის რედაქტორს ქარტიის პრინციპები არ დაურღვევია”- საქართველოს ჟურნალისტური ეთიკის ქარტია