this small village in the foothills of the caucasus mountains it's saturday march thirteenth two thousand and ten. comes home after a day's work at a vineyard and falls asleep in a room where his father is watching the evening news on the t.v. channel. i was sleeping on the sofa. when the program began my father was sitting here. watching from. i woke up because mother was screaming about the start of the war. father lying on the floor. i can't remember clearly what happened next somebody rushed to the neighbors to ask them for help. my father when they arrived he was already dead. the ambulance came just fifteen minutes

after being called the cause of death according to doctors. induced by a program on the t.v. channel. political analysts and journalists. viewers didn't see usually scheduled the evening news. they were shown a thirty minute program creating the impression that a war had broken out between russia and georgia the anchor woman on the talk show had announced that the program would be based on a fictional situation only a minute before it started so anybody who tuned into the program after that warning thought they were watching a regular news bulletin. a few minutes president saakashvili is expected to make a special statement on the situation and the country will know if it's going to be recorded all written that it's been reported that the russian troops deployed have been put on combat. descriptives something straight out of action for.

opposition leader. to meet members of the russian government. russian agents without mincing words according to the authors of the program. change. human. company. it's true that. changes why haven't they detained the people featured in the script up still saakashvili has to bear in mind that he must produce concrete facts behind the why is he will demonstrate once again that she's a liar and irresponsible probably got someone a. russian agent. for those who disagree with the

policies of the georgian government that it's any. journalist. investigations. came to power he was the kind of journalist. questions regardless of who held the country's reins. it. could. discover real facts concerning the georgian. capital of south the said. yes this is interview with

a set in human rights campaigner live at seven. she recounts events of august seventh two thousand and eight nobody seen it besides himself but georgia state controlled media didn't need to watch it to declare it a provocation on august the seventh georgia's president mikheil saakashvili spoke of bringing it to talks in any form and with. that he addressed the people of self to say. to say he had all that a unilateral ceasefire in a state he said he wouldn't yield to any provocations and you did and he assured us said they could go to bed in peace he spots but it. was on the night of august the eight large caliber guns fired on scene vall from the georgian side. the military operation second really referred to as the enforcement

of constitutional order in the territory of self the set you had begun. yes i will cop to face something really terrible at the end there was a deafening noise everything was shaking. and no women in the streets whois ninety minute crying. was as if we had launched into. after the will cain explosion with. the independent journalist work in a city it was seen by many in georgia as a betrayal of his country. i know of no journalist who wouldn't want to go to ten wall to get the facts but all of the state media summed up my work there as high treason nobody knows what sort of film it will be nobody knows what materials or how but the government's reaction is a kind of attempt at self defense. many facts exist.

for them these are exposed by a discredited journalist branded as a traitor. during his work on the film after his return from south. for an interview with european human rights activists in geneva. he received hints to the effect that he'd better stay in geneva as long as his large family wanted to stay in georgia who. have problems after my return from so. i don't wish to talk about it because whatever i say may hinder the investigation. i can only say that there were. but i won't say what those threats are because they are humiliating. first investigations appeared on the television channel the channel played a key role in the rose revolution which brought president. to power.

georgian people are not. independent. truly independent media outlets. but out. in the them but two thousand and three. constants to the independent. we couldn't imagine a situation without independent. made its debut in one thousand nine hundred four as a small studio in a private apartment ten years later it was already a popular modern channel. came to power he tried to bring its editorial policy under his control. journalists were denied accreditation and there were telephone calls to the channel's executives there were also attempts to buy up stock through figureheads. the media mogul who founded to see the president of his own accord. in two thousand and four when the state was taking its

first steps it was assumed that the new system of government was still weak. so it was thought the state should be the top priority and the rest would take care of itself. but as it turned out the aim was to take control of the channels i'm to blame for giving away so i didn't want to rock the boat but you need to become not only. that boat is still on an even keel but freedom of speech is not. really is the editor of a small district newspaper in the town of gori. it carries reports about corruption among members of the district administration one of their more high profile articles reveals instances of misuse of humanitarian aid to refugees. local authorities don't want to accept the existence of an independent newspaper even though its circulation is a mere five hundred copies. it's not dropped into the building of the local administration yesterday i needed to fishel information on some remittance from

gori to tbilisi the guards kicked me downstairs and pushed me against the wall did anyone see that yes indeed later i called the police. that i had fallen to the girl and some of the officials there said it serves me right that's what they said in front of ordinary visitors. first met in two thousand and five when the authorities openly threaten a journalist for the first time someone who lives in a small village eight kilometers from board he goes to work by suburban train once he noticed that he was being fall. under mode they chased me in the streets for two days on the third day as i came to another staircase and surrounded me one who was standing right in front of me it's me on my head on one another he. fell to the ground and covered my head with my hand and they had me again. again thought my

face was covered with blood some up with and my body was aching i don't want to give notice. despite the injuries some a decided not to give up editorial policy for remained unchanged. cultures that so much i was about to fade and those i loved in the form of them to give a real and eleven for big bang experiments conducted by the large hadron collider is seen by many as a scientific breakthrough others same ship. november

two thousand and seven thousands of people. see a protest against the policies of the georgian government and president with. them are seventh authorities used tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators. then independent t.v. channel has closely followed events for the past week. journalists with the latest reports from the most unexpected places and then a mix of just as you can see behind my back right now at this very moment the

special forces troops head into this thanks we need to get. this would be the last day of independence special forces troops. studios during a live broadcast. by closing the government is violating the constitution this means that this is a dictatorship regime. into the studio i want to say thank you i hear shots in the control room. because of problems created by. because our t.v. channel had been shut down after all the media has restored broadcasting my friends and i had remained faithful to our decision. together with. many of the journalists

have left the channel some of them came back to the profession to the former music t.v. channel. for many years there were no politics on this channel just music videos. founded maestro in one thousand nine hundred four he would never have imagined that in fifteen years he'd be replacing d.j.'s with political commentators. was a very high standard. maybe. we should do something about. simply couldn't. we wanted a new company to step in to us to become a broadcaster. normally a license for so-called political broadcasting is issued within three weeks and they were denied it for nearly six months on air guests had no right to discuss

anything besides films music and theater. that's the only word for it. sound was provided by radio. people wishing to see our talk shows how to switch on the television radio sets at the same time. ingenuity is the envy of other television stations. only available in some districts of tbilisi and on the internet its popularity in the country grows with each passing month this media underdog attracts people's attention with its smart in an orthodox techniques. very difficult to live in one room twenty four hours a day filming your every move. is very difficult. to some hard thinking project.

he's confined to a small studio. and. i was.

in the. public defender a parliament elected human rights. being threatened. to the parliament. now he's unemployed after they refused to extend. parliament. for a time. gave up his journalism career and worked as an assistant public defender.

but he couldn't stay away from his chosen profession for long. very close relationship. with his investigations. were interesting. political scandals the. one of. his most sensational films examines the mysterious death of former prime minister. george and he was such. was the person whose political influence kept limits on the real power of president saakashvili. two thousand and five prime minister died quite unexpectedly on their own. as the georgian government

said. inconvenient and suspicious facts that question the official version saying he died of gas poisoning. the case is still relevant. the question was about the. government has still failed to answer. in his film. collected and explained the many discrepancies in the case he set out the facts and ask questions without trying to draw conclusions. of the film's release. the intimidation and continued his investigation. at last the government had forced the journalist to flee the country telling us

swiss authorities to grant him political asylum. says he was among those demonstrating in front of the swiss embassy in tbilisi in support of. holding is a very good illustration of the situation in the country now with the freedom of speech is being ousted from the country as the poster reads freedom of speech is. independent media depends on advertising for survival if there's no advertising there's no revenue in this case of publication either each out its existence or shuts down altogether. advertisers are scared i mean local georgian advertisers and. they will always come under pressure from taxes. if they put up advertisements in defiance of order to. tax inspectors book sales. and so on and so forth.

the holding company to publish is the georgian times weekly. only because of other activities its top executives really was branded as a kremlin agent a long time ago for his attempts to establish a dialogue with the russian intellectual elite. the set up is appropriately called the russo georgian commission for dialogue when he was on a visit to russia in two thousand and nine he attempted to invite several well known russian journalists to come to georgia. we didn't go to have fun. we realized as a player that we would have to answer some very tough questions. to at least establish a direct woman in a night so i dawdled with georgian counterparts. to find some great truth. of the three journalists invited by mouth. only one was allowed to cross the border

maxime shift change and his colleague had to stay in the tbilisi airport an hour before their arrival president mikheil saakashvili had sent special forces to the airport with the aim of detaining the two journalists the troops cordon off the building into positions outside the exit to passport control the conflict was resolved by relatively peaceful means the unwelcome journalists were denied visas and sent back to russia as fast as possible. but. i felt very deeply insulted people here know that a georgian holds guests in high esteem by never been so insulted by. the time will come when the people who. will be punished accordingly. the second patriarch of georgia expected to meet with the three russian journalists in his residence on the day of their arrival but he saw only one of them during the meeting the patriarch made it clear that he sincerely regret it the incident. i

wish to give gifts. at the airport now. is a move the patriarch of the georgian church is very guarded and statements he made no public comment on the incident at the airport but when he made showed the shocking program simulating a war between russia and georgia he hardly minced his words and expressing his frustration. we do not welcome such programs this is humiliating to individuals and the nation as a whole. country matches the. spread in georgia we take first place to. be part of the army to join the enemy. this is an insult to our army. program there's a tremendous guilt people. move through.

the program should be made to add. property is the control. program is one of the signs of that. intimidation or unemployment. case in point staying in a shelter for refugees in switzerland he's unable to complete his film about the georgian conflict. i'm worried not so much for my own sake as for my family georgian government has shown that they can kill. his wife and children to receive visas and join from abroad he's warned them not to meet with journalists and to keep off the streets as much as possible he gets most

of the news about his family and his country through close friends. tell me what you are the take care of your immigration problems. visit you in october. chances are i myself might come back before october if the government changes. the government. well yes why not it's cost. us telling still working on the script of a new film nobody's seen it yet but he's already scared the georgian government back. as an investigative journalist he's confident that some day he will be able to finish his work to take his findings back home to his native country.

hungry for the full story we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on.

fires continue to rage across killing dozens and thousands of people full cities struggling to breathe through toxic small. sets here memorializes the hundreds killed in a war with georgia two years after tbilisi shells the republic leaving its top of all but razed to the ground. and japan marked sixty five years since an atomic bomb levels the city of herat for the first time since the deadly event in washington sends an envoy to the memorial service but still offers no apologies. six am here in moscow wrapping up the week's news for you here on r t our top story

russian officials say the wildfires in the moscow region could be within the next few days firefighters are working around the clock and blazes in some areas have finally been contained but a huge blanket of suffocating toxic smog from the fires is currently feared to be poisoning millions in the central russia in moscow and nearby areas people have been trying to get away for some fresh air as haiti's stings their eyes and throats but traveling hasn't been easy smoke has disrupted flights and visibility on the roads close to zero at times. more from the scene of one wildfire close to the capital. it's very hard to breathe in fact the ecological situation is still critical the small is very thick and visibility is really poor and as soon as i'm done with the report i'm going to put on this mask the only way to feel at least a little bit comfortable since of this the small and pollution is also worsened by

the heat to say that it's not expected that this small will dissolve in the view nearest future they say that it may only start dissolving by sometime in the middle of next week and dr c. that breathing this is there for just a few hours is equal to smoking a few packs of cigarettes that's why they strongly advise people to stay inside their homes in the affected area shut all the windows and drink as much water as possible wear masks and take several showers a day this these conditions are of course even more difficult for people with cords and and long problems and of course this whole situation is caused by the hundreds of fires clearly we do of course russia seventeen regions have been affected some of them including moscow region have announced a state of emergency and according to the leaders official figures there are currently over five hundred and fifty reaching fires and several thousand firefighters and volunteers.