Georgian opposition parties said on Thursday they will sue Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and TV channel head Georgy Arveladze over a faked report about a Russian invasion of Georgia.
The Imedi TV channel sparked panic in Georgia last Saturday with a broadcast that said Russian tanks had invaded the capital and the country's president was dead. The report used footage from the August 2008 conflict with Russia.
"[We] are filing a lawsuit against Mikheil Saakashvili and Georgy Arveladze over the imitation Imedi Kronika [news report] and will send it to a court next week," said Zurab Nogaideli, leader of the For Fair Georgia opposition party. The former Georgian prime minister demanded Imedi apologize to politicians depicted as traitors in the report.
The Democratic Movement - United Georgia party, led by ex-parliamentary speaker Nino Burdzhanadze, also announced that it would file a lawsuit against the private Imedi TV channel.
Burdzhanadze, who was a key ally of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in the 2003 Rose Revolution but is now a bitter critic of the government, said the broadcast was a riposte to her recent visit to Moscow and talks with top Russian officials.
Koba Davitashvili, leader of the People's Party, another opposition group, said the lawsuit would be filed not only because opposition politicians had been branded traitors in the report but also because it had threatened the health and lives of many people.
The broadcast, which used the channel's normal news graphics, began with a warning that the program showed a sequence of possible events that could occur "if Georgian society is not united against Russia's plans."
The news item included clips of panicked residents trying to flee Tbilisi and reported that there was panic in Gori, Mtskheta and other regions.
The staged images and words rung true, however, when viewers who did not see the introduction took the report at face value. People from all over the country began to call each other and the TV studio to find out what was really happening.
The report contravened Georgian broadcasters' code of conduct by carrying no clear warning that it was fictitious and sparked a wave of international criticism, including from the United States. Archive footage of President Barack Obama giving a statement was used with a Georgian voiceover to give the impression he was supporting Georgia during the supposed Russian invasion.
Georgia's National Media Commission ordered Imedi to apologize to the public for the report and examine complaints from all the "victims" - people who had reportedly suffered heart attacks and experienced other health problems over the report.
TBILISI, March 18 (RIA Novosti)
