Georgia vows to lift state of emergency on Friday
TBILISI (AFP) — Georgia will lift a state of emergency on Friday, a top official said Wednesday, but doubts remained about whether one of the country's main television channels would be allowed back on the air.
"Georgian life will return to normal on November 16," the Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze said in televised comments.
"I hope that after lifting the state of emergency our country will continue its normal democratic process," Burjanadze said.
The move was welcomed by the United States, a close ally and backer of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. The US and European Union had been urging the immediate lifting of emergency rule.
"That's a very important step. It's crucial," Matthew Bryza, the US deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, told journalists in Tbilisi, where he met with Saakashvili.
Saakashvili imposed the state of emergency, which banned demonstrations and independent news broadcasts, last week for a maximum period of 15 days after violent clashes last week between police and anti-government protesters.
Authorities also shut down Imedi television, a channel widely seen as backing the protesters.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which controls Imedi, said Wednesday it had been informed that the channel's licence had been suspended and that all of its equipment had been seized.
"The reason given for this seizure and suspension by the Georgian authorities is the allegation that our partner in Georgia, Badri Patarkatsishvili, is under investigation for plotting a Russian-backed coup and that Imedi is somehow involved in this," said Martin Pompadur, the chairman of News Corp. Europe, in an e-mailed statement.
"To allege that News Corp. is involved in a Russian-backed coup in Georgia is beyond ludicrous," he said.
The licence did not appear to have been revoked and it was unclear under what conditions Imedi would be allowed to resume broadcasting.
Last week, Saakashvili also called a snap presidential poll for January 5, a move claimed as a victory by the opposition.
The European Union on Wednesday said that the longer Georgia maintained the state of emergency, the harder it would be for the presidential poll to secure international approval.
"The longer the state of emergency lasts, the more difficult it will be for foreign observers to conclude that the elections will be fair," Peter Semneby, the EU representative to the south Caucasus region, told journalists.
Opposition leaders said Wednesday that simply revoking the state of emergency would not be enough to restore faith in Georgia's young democracy, and that re-opening Imedi would be an essential step.
"The syndrome of fear and terror continues to exist and this is the problem that must be solved," said Salome Zurabishvili, a former foreign minister turned opposition leader.
Saakashvili, a strongly pro-Western leader, came under a barrage of criticism from the United States and EU countries for the violent dispersal of protestors in the capital.
The president, who came to power after the peaceful 2003 Rose Revolution, said that he feared a Russian-backed coup attempt was underway. Moscow has dismissed the accusation.
One of the opposition's leaders, former defence minister Irakli Okruashvili, was on Wednesday declared a fugitive by Georgian authorities for violating his bail conditions.
Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utuashvili told AFP that Okruashvili had failed to respond to numerous requests to submit testimony and that a court had issued an order for his arrest.
"If he does not show up, the court can try him in absentia and if he is convicted he will face demands for extradition," Utuashvili said.
Okruashvili was arrested on corruption charges in September shortly after he accused Saakashvili of plotting to murder high-profile opponents.
He recanted and was released on bail, but later said his retraction had been coerced while he was in prison.
Okruashvili left the country earlier this month for Germany. While the government says he left of his own accord for health reasons, Okruashvili insists he was forced into exile.
On Monday, the coalition of opposition parties that led the anti-government protests announced that almost all of its members would support prominent businessman Levan Gachechiladze as Saakashvili's challenger in the presidential poll.
Opposition leaders said Gachechiladze would run on a mandate of abolishing the presidency and handing executive power to a parliamentary government.
