Ani Vazagashvili, who has headed the legal department of the pro-government and UK-sanctioned Imedi TV, was approved on April 15 by Georgia’s disputed parliament as a new member of the Communications Commission (ComCom), the state media regulator, with 80 MPs voting in favor and none against. She replaces Vakhtang Abashidze, who had served at ComCom since 2014 and before in 2000-2004.
Vazagashvili, according to her documents submitted to the disputed parliament, has headed the legal service of Imedi and its subsidiary Studio Maestro since June 2024. Previously, she worked as a lawyer at the Ministry of Internal Affairs from 2019 to 2024 and, from 2015 to 2019, at the law firm “Samartlis Gza” (Law Path).
She was among the three candidates submitted to the disputed parliament by Georgian Dream-elected President Mikheil Kavelashvili. The other two were Giorgi Elisashvili, financial director of GDS, also part of the Imedi holding, and Solomon Ekvtimishvili, founder and director of LLC Finance-Service.
Vazagashvili’s appointment comes as the Communications Commission, widely seen as under the ruling party’s diktat and chaired since 2026 by former Georgian Dream MP Goga Gulordava, who also worked at Imedi for two years, is warning of stricter enforcement under controversial April 2025 amendments to the law that expanded the agency’s powers to regulate broadcasters’ content.
In its latest decision, ComCom on April 8 issued written warnings to four TV channels, including pro-government Imedi TV and POSTV, as well as government-critical TV Pirveli and Formula, citing “violations of principles of impartiality” under the country’s Law on Broadcasting. The move followed ComCom’s warning that it would take a more proactive approach to enforcement while criticizing the UK’s decision to sanction Imedi and POSTV for “Russian disinformation.”
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