Georgian billionaire and opposition politician Bidzina “Boris” Ivanishvili commented on the departure from his post of editor-in-chief of the Georgian version of Forbes Revaz Sakevarishvili, who accused the magazine’s publisher of interfering in editorial activities.

“Censorship and direct government interference in the work of independent media have become commonplace in our country. This time they took aim at a publication associated with a global brand,” said in a statement . the Georgian Dream coalition, led by Ivanishvili,

Forbes Georgia editor-in-chief Revaz Sakevarishvili announced his resignation last Tuesday, March 27. Sakevarishvili stated that Media Partners, which owns the license to publish a magazine under the Forbes brand in Georgia, constantly interfered with the content of the magazine. The conflict, according to him, reached its apogee when he was preparing an interview with Bidzina Ivanishvili. (Read more about this in Sakevarishvili’s interview )

For its part, Media Partners claims in an official press release that Sakevarishvili did not leave voluntarily, but was fired for incompetence. The publishing house accused Sakevarishvili of plagiarism when writing questions for Ivanishvili.

“This statement from the publisher is absolutely incompetent and is an attempt to mislead the public. The goal of the authorities and the publishing house close to it is known – to once again block any of my activities,” Ivanishvili, in turn, believes.

Billionaire Ivanishvili sided with the former editor-in-chief of Georgian Forbes