Tbilisi City Court ruled on December 6 to unfreeze Imedi’s assets – the last remaining legal obstacle for the television station to get back on air.

The ruling, however, will not go into force until December 7, according to the court. Imedi technicians, hoping to enter the TV studios today, will now, as a result, have to wait another day.

“We won’t be able to enter the studios today, because the court ruling doesn't go into force until tomorrow,” Bidzina Baratashvili, managing director of Imedi TV, told Civil.Ge on December 6. “Initially [the authorities] had pledged to let us in on December 5, but now this has been postponed until tomorrow. They are deliberately dragging out the process.”

Nino Burjanadze, the acting president, had said earlier this week that Imedi technicians would be allowed to enter the station’s studios on December 5.

Technicians need to inspect equipment and determine when Imedi TV can resume actual broadcasting. Imedi’s management has claimed that studio equipment was damaged during the police raid on the television station late on November 7.

The Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) on December 4 reversed its November 7 decision to suspend Imedi TV’s license for three months.

Although Imedi TV will resume broadcasting, “a criminal case against its owner, controversial billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, is still pending,” the Georgian government said in a statement on December 5.