Georgian opposition leader beaten, ruling party members accused

Georgia’s former prime minister and opposition party leader Giorgia Gakharia has been treated in hospital after being attacked in a hotel, allegedly by members of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Gakharia is said to have suffered a broken nose in the incident which took place in Batumi on the Black Sea coast. His party said it was “politically motivated” and aimed at intimidating the opposition.

The months since Georgia’s contested elections in late October have seen political turmoil in the southern Caucasus state and repeated attacks on opposition figures and protesters.

Protests have been taking place every night since the leaders of Georgian Dream announced a month later that they were blocking the issue of starting negotiations on EU accession.

Hundreds of businesses took part in a three-hour strike on Wednesday, the 49th consecutive day of protests.

Video of the incident late Tuesday night in the Sheraton hotel lobby in Batumi was not clear, although Gakharia could be seen being forced to the floor by a group of men. Later photographs showed blood on his shirt.

Giorgia Gakharia posted on social media on Wednesday morning that “health-wise I am fine”, but the doctor treating her said she had a broken nose and a concussion.

European Commission spokeswoman Anita Hipper said the “alleged involvement of Georgian Dream politicians in the brutal attack” was shocking, and There was no room for violence or impunity in any democracy,

However, Georgian Dream figures have accused Gakharia of starting the clashes himself. MP Levan Machavriani told reporters that everything is clear from the footage, while Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said the opposition’s agenda is based on lies and deception.

A Georgian Dream MP and other party members have been linked to the attack, which came shortly after that of Zviad Koridze, a journalist and regional head of the anti-corruption organization Transparency International.

Koridze was visiting Batumi to cover the trial of Mazia Amaghlobeli, a prominent media personality and founder of the independent online outlet Netgazette and Batumlebi.

He was ordered held in pre-trial detention in the Black Sea coastal city on Tuesday, two days after his arrest during a heated argument with a policeman in which he is accused of slapping the officer. A cameraman was also arrested.

Britain’s ambassador to Georgia, Gareth Ward, said developments in the political crisis in recent days have been “extremely worrying”. “The renewed violence against opposition politicians and the arbitrary detention of journalists and protesters is unacceptable,” he said.

Gakharia is not the first opposition leader to face violence in recent weeks. Nika Guarmia, the head of the Coalition for Change, was knocked unconscious and thrown to the ground when she was detained in the capital, Tbilisi, last month.

Dozens of Georgian journalists and protesters were also attacked and injured by pro-government thugs during the nightly protests.

Georgian Dream has been accused by the EU and US of backsliding democratically, and opposition groups have accused the party and its billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili of advancing Russia’s interests, while the vast majority of Georgians remain in the EU. Wants to join.

Giorgi Gakharia was a prominent member of Georgian Dream until 2021 and served as Minister of the Interior and then Prime Minister before founding his own For Georgia opposition party.

In a statement, Georgia’s ombudsman Levan Ioseliani condemned the attacks on both Gakharia and Zviad Koridze. He called for an immediate response “so that attacks on politicians and journalists do not escalate”.

Gakharia’s party was one of four opposition groups that gained seats in the October elections, but all of them refused to take their seats, accusing the ruling party of vote rigging.

The European Parliament has called for a re-run of the election, calling it neither free nor fair, and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has accused the government of using repression against the opposition.