Transparency Int’l Georgia representative: Ivanishvili should personally file complaint against BBC

If the ruling Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili personally has grievances against the BBC, then he should submit a complaint himself, Sandro Baramidze, a representative of Transparency International Georgia, has said.

Baramidze added international human rights law does not protect the rights of a state that violates human rights, but instead safeguards individuals from abuses committed by the state.

“International human rights law protects human rights in cases where they are violated by the state; it does not protect the rights of the violating state itself when it breaches human rights. This is what I want to say to [Parliament Speaker] Shalva Papuashvili and other relevant officials from Georgian Dream,” Baramidze stated.

He added that the Georgian state has neither the right nor the procedural capacity to take a case to a European court in this matter. “If Ivanishvili personally has a claim against the BBC, then [he] should file a complaint himself,” Baramidze said.

Earlier, the ruling Georgian Dream party submitted an official complaint to the BBC.