The scandal around the bogus report broadcast by Georgia's TV channel last Saturday continues. New statements emerge saying that the government and personally president Mikhail Saakashvili were behind the preparation of the fake news.
On March 13 the fake news about an alleged Russian invasion and the alleged murder of President Saakashvili was broadcast by the Georgian Imedi TV channel. The footage put the Georgian people into a panic. Though there was a brief notice in the beginning saying that it was a simulation of possible events, the majority of viewers just didn't see it and thought that everything was real. Many were shocked, some suffered heart attacks.
On Monday a number of Georgian online mass media posted an audio-file on their websites with a phone conversation where one of the persons sounded like the head of Imedi TV Channel Georgy Arveladze. On this recording he is discussing with someone the details of the footage. In particular he was saying there that there were no notice about the events' simulation, and all this had been agreed with Misha. Misha is a short form for Mikhail and this is also how people often call Saaskshvili. Arveladze denies the authenticity of the audio file but many of the representatives of the opposition have no doubt about it. According to Georgy Torgamadze, former head of political programs' department of Imedi, it is unlikely that this kind of footage could be broadcast without asking the government for permission:
The head of this company is the former head of the presidential administration, ex-Economy Minister Georgy Arveladze. Considering this I am sure that all the details in that program were worked out not by TV journalists or editors, but by top governmental officials.
As for Mikhail Saakashvili he called the incident "unpleasant but useful". He said that such reports will help to avoid the development of such scenarios in reality.
Anyway, the fake report means problems both for the TV channel and for the government. The Russian mass media are getting ready to sue Imedi for illegal use of its materials in that program and the Georgian opposition wants to make Mikhail Saakshvili responsible for his actions.
On Tuesday, supporters of the restoration of normal relations between Georgia and Russia will gather in Tbilisi in front of the Trade Unions palace following an appeal by ex-Prime Minister, leader of the oppositional movement For Fair Georgia, Zurab Nogaideli. In their turn the Georgian Labor party has asked the US administration not to let Saakshvili meet US President Barack Obama. They fear that the meeting with the US President may inspire Saakashvili to continue his provocations which would lead to more tension in the Caucasus region.
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