GEORGIA: Attacks on Politicians & more – 20th Feb 2025

Gamarjobat from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Georgia Update from the 20th of February twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Georgia.

On Thursday, the 13th, the European Parliament passed a resolution urging the European Council and member states to impose sanctions on people close to Bidzina Ivanishvili who back the repressive government system.

The resolution demands an end to the crackdown on peaceful protesters, political opponents, and the media. It highlights the government’s violation of human rights, recognizes Salome Zourabichvili as the legitimate president of Georgia, and supports her efforts to bring the country back to a democratic, European path.

The resolution also calls for new parliamentary elections, ensuring they’re free and fair, with international oversight. It stresses that EU member states should keep a close watch on the situation and suggests reconsidering Georgia’s visa-free status if the country continues to fail to meet democratic standards.

In other news, Mtavari, the largest opposition TV channel, has partially suspended its daily operations. Since Saturday, the 15th, the channel has only been airing reruns of movies and TV shows. Gogi Gabunia, the channel's General Director, says that the financial difficulties Mtavari is facing are caused by its co-founder, Zaza Okrushvili, who is blocking all financial transactions necessary for the channel's survival. Gabunia says that Okrushvili’s goal is to shut down the channel permanently, driven by a secret arrangement with Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Okrushvili denies these allegations, stating that he wants the channel to continue operating but will no longer allow Gabunia and Nika Gvaramia (who controls the channel behind the scenes) to use Mtavari for money laundering and personal enrichment. He also says that the decision to suspend operations was made illegally by Gabunia and is part of a smear campaign against him.

Next Up. In the early morning of Monday, the 17th, a group of people attacked former Prime Minister Gogi Gakharia as he arrived at Tbilisi’s International Airport from the Munich Security Conference. Although this time the incident didn’t escalate into a physical confrontation, the group threw eggs at Gakharia right at the airport. A similar incident happened the next day when President Zurabishvili returned from the same conference.

Gakharia said that the attack wasn’t spontaneous and that Ivanishvili organized it. The police were absent during both cases, which is odd since they usually maintain a strong presence at the airport. So far, none of the attackers have been detained. President Zurabishvili said she will initiate legal action to ensure that everyone responsible is held accountable.

A tragedy struck in Batumi, a seaside city in the west, on Saturday the 15th, when two children, aged five and seven, lost their lives after falling into a water-filled trench on a construction site. After several hours of searching, rescuers found the children and took them to the hospital, but doctors couldn’t save them. The incident occurred in the City of Dreams district, which started construction in twenty twenty to house socially vulnerable people. Just a week ago, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Tornike Rijvadze, the head of Adjara’s government, held a special event there to mark the start of the second phase of construction.

Journalists and activists quickly questioned whether the construction site was properly fenced and if safety measures were in place to prevent the tragedy. Instead of taking responsibility, the ruling party accused them of exploiting the tragedy for political gain.

In related news, Mzia Amaghlobeli, the editor of Batumelebi and Netgazeti magazines, has ended her thirty-eight-day hunger strike. She started the strike to protest her detention on charges of assaulting a police chief. Last week, doctors warned that her condition was close to becoming critical, and her friends and colleagues urged her to stop.

On Tuesday, the 18th, she issued a statement from the clinic, saying that it became increasingly difficult for her to constantly hear concerns about her health and safety, when there are much worse things happening even in Batumi, like the tragedy that happened in City of Dreams. As a result, she decided to restore her strength and start eating again.

On to our next story. On Wednesday, the 19th, a camera operator of the opposition channel TV Pirveli was arrested while driving home from a pro-European demonstration. These types of arrests have become common in Georgia over the last three months. Citizens witnessed the arrest in the middle of the road and quickly went live on Facebook to share the footage. The police officers wore civilian clothes, dressed in all black, and hid their faces. The operator can be heard shouting that the officers were putting something in his pockets.

Later, the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that he was arrested on administrative charges for refusing to comply with a police request. The footage raised the question of how a civilian being arrested is supposed to identify the officers as police rather than a group of thugs.

You can check out the arrest footage with the link in the show notes.

In other headlines. On Monday, the 17th, a group of citizens who have been organizing protests in front of the Georgian Public Broadcaster since the start of pro-European demonstrations founded a new left-wing political movement called For Social Democracy or Socialuri Demokratiistvis. The movement brings together people from different lines of work, backgrounds, and interests, inspired by European left-wing politics. It now has over 100 members.

Levan Lortkipanidze, one of the founders, emphasized the movement's goal to ensure every citizen’s right to live with dignity. He called for unity among progressive forces to create a fairer, more just society where everyone has equal opportunities and rights.

The Georgian Dream’s or the Kotsebi’s sham President Kavelashvili congratulated Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on winning his seventh term as president. Kavlashvili’s congratulatory message emphasized the long-standing relationship between Georgia and Belarus, highlighting mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity as the foundation of their cooperation. He expressed hope for further development of their bilateral relations.

On Monday, the 17th, Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, commented on the ongoing protests in Georgia during an interview at the Munich Security Conference. She expressed admiration for people participating in these anti-government, pro-European protests.

Navalnaya highlighted the importance of supporting individuals fighting for their rights in countries that Russia targets through hybrid warfare. When asked what advice she would give to Georgian protesters, she responded that Russians are the ones who should be asking for advice.

Speaking of Russia, on Wednesday, the 19th, Sergey Lavrov, its Foreign Minister, said that the 3+3 format is still open to Georgia. In twenty twenty Turkish President Erdogan proposed this regional cooperation format, which includes Turkey, Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia. Its purpose is to ensure peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

Georgia has not joined the platform so far, due to widespread anti-Russian sentiment in the country. However, considering its strained relationship with Western allies and the ruling party’s increasingly close ties to Russia, Georgia is now more likely to consider joining the format.

According to the National Bank of Georgia, the total number of remittances sent to the nation from foreign countries in January was just over 242 million dollars, which is 680 million Lari. This figure is 8.5% lower than the amount recorded in January last year.

The largest share of transfers came from the US, accounting for nearly 20%, totaling 47 million dollars. Italy followed closely with 46 million, while Russia ranked third with 25 million dollars.

Although remittances to Georgia declined compared to last January, the amount of money sent out of the country increased by over 8%, totaling 28 million dollars.

Closing with cultural news. The new music video of the song titled fucked up by American rapper Macklemore, which was published on YouTube on Wednesday, the 12th, heavily features video footage from pro-European Demonstrations in Georgia. Especially prominent are clips of an altercation between the police and demonstrators.

The music video also has footage from the Israel-Palestine conflict and civil protests in the United States. It has over a million views.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Nakhvamdis!