"Imprisonment of Nika Gvaramia directly violates media freedom and the rule of law in the country"| Human Rights Watch spokesperson

There are specific criteria in international law that indicate political signs of detention, and in the case of Nika Gvaramia there are several," - Giorgi Gogia said.

Members of the influential organization say the arrest of a critical media manager is a threat to the country's democratic development and media freedom.

The fact that independent media manager Nika Gvaramia is in jail on charges against him directly undermines media freedom and the rule of law in the country. We can be guided by the resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2012, which outlines five criteria. If at least one of those five criteria is met, we can assume that we are dealing with political justice, in the case of Nika Gvaramia we are dealing with several criteria," said Giorgi Gogia, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia for Human Rights Watch.