If the respondent does not want to give you an interview, you should respect his will. Such a statement made today the Speaker of the Parliament, while commenting on the issue of suspending the accreditation necessary for working in the legislative body for the journalists of Mtavari TV and TV Pirveli.

“As for making a decision, it will be considered by the office, based on the evidence available in open sources, first of all, in this case, the TV Priveli footage. It’s a lie, as if it could have anything to do with the content. The content has absolutely nothing to do with it.

The most important thing is that you cannot persecute a person. Although I have explained these rules to all journalists and they are public, I urge you to spend 2 minutes on these rules and read them, do some work to read these rules.

You don’t seem to be well aware of legal matters. These rules were developed in order for the cooperation between the journalist and the respondent to be business-like in the Parliament, and to prevent persecution, chasing a person, which was the practice of some journalists, who missed even the minimum standard of ethical journalism.

These principles are correct. I again urge all journalists to read the rules. There are several issues, including that a staff member or MPs should not be approached by a person with cameras without prior consent. The Parliament is not a public space, it is an institution where it is important for the people working in this institution to have a working environment, so when the respondent does not want to give an interview, we have to respect it”, - said Shalva Papuashvili.