TBILISI, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - A political asylum seeker who was earlier reported to be a producer at a Georgian TV channel has not worked at the company for two years, a source at the Imedi station told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
A spokesman for the security services in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan said earlier on Saturday that Badri Afanasyev had applied for political asylum upon arrival from Azerbaijan at a Dagestani check point on October 15.
Afanasyev, 53, said he had been persecuted in Georgia for his association with late opposition figure and former Imedi owner, Badri Patarkatsishvili. The tycoon died in the U.K. in 2008.
"Afanasyev worked as a producer on a serial at Imedi around two years ago, when Badri Patarkatsishvili was still alive. After that, as far as I know, he went abroad," the source said.
Shortly before his death of a heart attack near London, Patarkatsishvili handed his controlling stake in the channel to his cousin, Joseph Kay, a U.S. national.
