The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors and journalists, condemns the recent denial of entry to Czech journalist Ray Baseley into Georgia three days before the country’s crucial parliamentary elections. Georgian authorities must immediately put an end to the worrying practice of barring foreign journalists from entering the country.
On October 22, 2024, Baseley posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he had been denied entry to Georgia without any explanation for the ban. No explanation for the decision was provided beyond an official document citing “other cases envisaged by Georgian legislation” for the entry denial. On October 24, Baseley posted a tweet from Warsaw saying he had been detained at the Tbilisi Airport for 34 hours without access to his phone or other belongings.
After returning to Prague, Baseley told IPI that he was under constant scrutiny while detained at the airport and was denied contact with a lawyer for 20 hours after his detention. He said that during his conversation with the lawyer, he was continually surrounded by at least four police officers. Baseley believes that his reporting on the protests against the foreign agent law in May 2024 is the reason he has been barred from entering the country.
Baseley is a freelancer who planned to cover Georgia’s October 26 parliamentary elections for the Ukrainian independent media outlet the Kyiv Indepedent. Baseley extensively covered the demonstrations against the law on ‘Transparency of Foreign Influence’ in spring 2024 while based at the Studio Monitori office in Tbilisi.
“This is yet another troubling case of foreign journalists being denied entry to Georgia without any valid explanation”, IPI Interim Executive Director Scott Griffen said.“Georgian authorities must allow independent media coverage of this Sunday’s consequential election, which is being held in an increasingly hostile media environment. Cases such as Baseley’s risk creating a chilling effect on both local and foreign journalists, whether they are in the country or planning to cover key developments before, during, and after the upcoming elections.”
Georgia has repeatedly denied entry to foreign journalists. On September 15, Belarusian journalist Andrei Mialeshka, and his daughter, who have been living in Georgia for three years, were denied permission to re-enter the country after a trip to Poland. No explanation for the decision was provided beyond an official document citing “other cases envisaged by Georgian legislation” for the entry denial. The next day, Arsen Kharatyan, founder of Aliq Media and former adviser to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, also reported being denied entry to Georgia. Kharatyan stated that he was detained for four hours at Tbilisi International Airport before being sent back to Europe. IPI condemned these cases and urged the authorities in Georgia to put an end to this practice.
Since 2022, Georgia has denied entry to dozens of media workers involving journalists from independent Russian media outlets such as Dozhd TV, Meduza, Holod and Mediazona.
