“I categorically condemn any harassment, verbal or physical attacks. I condemn it first of all as a woman and as a President,” said Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili at a briefing on March 27, expressing solidarity with the women who in recent days have accused the founder and presenter of the pro-government television channel PosTV, Shalva Ramishvili, of sexual harassment.
27/01/2009 – ECHR Orders Georgia to Pay EUR 26,700 to 202 TV Founders
The President said: ”The situation in the country in terms of violence against women and the justification of this violence…, is extremely worrying.”
The President also referred to the statements of support for Shalva Ramishvili by the ruling team and Georgian Dream supporters, noting that it is “even more disturbing” to justify violence against women in “various forms”. With their shameful abuse, they justify what cannot be justified. Women who claim publicity do so as well.”
She stressed that it is damaging to the country’s image, as well as politically damaging. She also stressed: “The authorities not only fail to condemn violence, at least in words, but encourage its perpetrators. Shame on you!”
She said it was not a “civilized” and “un-social” approach, which is incomprehensible “especially when we know that what starts with verbal violence often continues with physical violence and in some cases ends in tragic femicide” adding that she categorically condemned, as a woman and as President, any abuse and assault, whether verbal or physical. She stressed that it has “nothing in common with Georgian culture, traditions and upbringing”.
The President’s briefing was preceded by an appeal to the President today by Tatia Samkharadze, one of the victims of sexual harassment. Samkharadze accused the camera crew of “PosTV” of ambushing her house. “How long should I be kept in this captivity?” Help me, they have turned my destruction into a reality show,” he wrote on Facebook. Tatia Samkharadze was one of the first women to expose Ramishvili for sexual harassment and won her case in court. Ramishvili himself calls the accusations against him “slander” and sees his television as part of a “discrediting campaign”.
- 02/09/2005 – Ramishvili Remanded in Custody
- 02/09/2005 – New Details Emerge in Ramishvili’s Case
- 01/09/2005 – Lawyer Says Testimony Against Ramishvili is “False”
- 29/08/2005 – Ramishvili Sentenced to Custody
- 29/08/2005 – Ramishvili Maintains Innocence in Pre-Trial Hearing
- 29/08/2005 – Georgian Press on Ramishvili’s Arrest
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