TBILISI, Feb 2, 2010 (AFP) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili Tuesday accused a France-based satellite operator of setting a "dangerous precedent of international political censorship" by taking a Georgian channel off the air.
    The operator, Eutelsat, has denied accusations from Georgia that it caved in to Russian pressure and cut transmissions of the new Russian-language First Caucasus channel.
    Saakashvili urged the French government to get involved in the case and accused state-controlled Russian gas giant Gazprom of trying to monopolise the international airwaves.
    "We hope that the government, politicians and media in the cradle of democracy will help this channel return to the air," Saakashvili said in a statement.
    "Such a precedent of capitulation before Gazprom is dangerous for European democracy," he said.
    Georgia this week accused Eutelsat of having stopped transmissions of First Caucasus after signing "a lucrative contract" with Russian satellite company Intersputnik to provide broadcasts for a unit of Gazprom.
    The channel said it would seek legal recourse against Eutelsat.
    Eutelsat denied the accusation, saying it had broadcast the channel for a week's test that began and ended on agreed dates last month and that it was now waiting for the channel to sign a contract to resume broadcasts.
    First Caucasus provides news bulletins and information programmes focusing on events in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as in Russia's North Caucasus region, challenging Moscow's influence in the strategic region.
    The satellite channel, which is also available on the Internet, was launched amid deep tensions between Georgia and Russia, who fought a brief war in 2008 over the Russian-backed breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.