CEDH · CASELAW;COMMUNICATEDCASES;ENG — 28 novembre 2024

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s379BC09C { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s10950C61 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:14.2pt; text-align:justify } .s5E1364CA { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:14pt } .s339D85E6 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:14pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid } .s665E407E { margin-top:66pt; margin-bottom:14pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .sA1D3DA2E { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } Published on 16 December 2024   FOURTH SECTION Application no. 12433/24 Natia KAPANADZE against Georgia lodged on 19 April 2024 communicated on 28 November 2024 SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE The application concerns, under Article 10 of the Convention, the applicant’s dismissal, on 19 April 2019, from her position as managing director of the Ajara TV, a public broadcaster in the Autonomous Republic of Ajara, Georgia (“the ARA”), after four out of five members of the channel’s Advisory Board (“the Advisory Board”) passed a motion of no confidence against her. Members of the Advisory Board were, at that time, selected by the ARA’s legislative body, the Supreme Council, with the ruling and opposition parties each nominating potential members. The proceedings to impeach the applicant from her post started on 10 April 2019, when two members of the Board, one who had been endorsed by the ruling Georgian Dream party and another by the opposition United National Movement, addressed the body with a fifteen-pages document explaining why the applicant should step down. Amongst the reasons stated, there was reference to the TV channel’s ratings that had halved since 2016, the Board’s difficulty in communicating with the director, misuse of expenditures and repeated violations of the internal rules on procurement, various instances conflict of interests, and so on. The applicant sued the Advisory Board for her dismissal, claiming that there had been no sufficient evidentiary basis for imputing the multiple breaches of the managerial duties to her. She did not voice at that time any complaints relating to the Advisory Board’s purported attempt to censure the editorial freedom of the TV channel. On 6 May 2022 the Tbilisi City Court rejected the applicant’s employment action as ill-founded. The court confirmed that the Advisory Board had dismissed the applicant in full compliance with the applicable legislation and that there had been sufficient evidence confirming the multiple episodes of mismanagement. The applicant appealed against the judgment of 6 May 2022, reiterating her complaints about the insufficiency of the evidence necessary for reaching conclusions about the mismanagement. Her appeals were rejected by the Kutaisi Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Georgia on 2 November 2022 and 11 October 2023 respectively. It does not appear from the available case materials that the applicant raised any fears about her dismissal being linked to censorship of the editorial independence of the Ajara TV in the appellate proceedings either. The final domestic decision of 11 October 2023 was served on the applicant on 21 December 2023. QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES 1.     Has the applicant exhausted all effective domestic remedies, as required by Article   35 §   1 of the Convention?   In particular, did the applicant invoke before the national authorities, at least in substance, the rights under Article 10 on which she now wishes to rely before the Court?   2.     Has there been an interference with the applicant’s freedom of expression, within the meaning of Article   10 §   1 of the Convention, on account of her dismissal from the position of managing director of the Ajara television channel? If so, was that interference prescribed by law and necessary in terms of Article   10 §   2?