Giorgi Sanaia

Giorgi Sanaia, sometimes spelled as Giorgi Sanaya (in Georgian: გიორგი სანაია) (1975-2001) was a Georgian television journalist of the independent broadcasting company Rustavi 2 who was murdered under controversial circumstances in 2001.

He was a very popular television personality as the anchorman of the “Night Courier” news program, and he was known for investigating allegations of official corruption. He was killed at his flat in Tbilisi on July 26, 2001.

The murder of Giorgi Sanaia, at the age of 26, was widely believed to be politically motivated and triggered an unprecedented outpouring of public grief and anger. Fearing riots in Tbilisi similar to those in Ukraine after President Leonid Kuchma was implicated in journalist Giorgi Gongadze's death, the Georgian government acted much more effectively than Ukraine and managed to avoid the main accusation that Kuchma faced: an unwillingness to react. The government demonstrated to the Georgian public that everything was being done to find his killer, and subsequently arrested a certain Giorgi Khurtsilava. However, Sanaia’s widow and many Georgians are dissatisfied, as the court neither established a true motive for the murder, nor found answers to a number of key questions.

Giorgi Sanaia was survived by a wife and a son.

See also

* List of Georgians
* International Freedom of Expression Exchange

External links

* [http://www.iagj.org.ge/memorial.htm Memorial site]
* [http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/14170 IFEX: Giorgi Sanaia Killed]