Giorgi Gakharia, a former prime minister of Georgia who now leads one of the country's main opposition groups, was hospitalised after being severely beaten. Acording to media reports he sustained injuries on his face and head during an assault by several men at a hotel lobby in Batumi. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Gakharia said his health was stable. His party, For Georgia, called the assault a "brutal, coordinated group attack" and said the government was to blame. Party in government has denied any wrongdoing.
"This politically motivated attack is a blatant attempt to intimidate the opposition and suppress dissenting voices," the party said in a statement quoted by the Interpress news agency. Georgia has been plunged into political crisis following an October parliamentary election which the opposition claims was stolen by the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Georgians have staged nightly protests in the capital Tbilisi and other cities since November, when the government said it would freeze European Union accession talks until 2028. The pro-EU protests have been met with a crackdown by police, with rights groups pointing to hundreds of arrests and beatings. The government has defended the police's actions.
The British and U.S. embassies in Tbilisi on Wednesday condemned what they said was a resurgence in violence against opposition leaders, journalists and protesters in recent days, with British Ambassador Gareth Ward calling the situation "deeply disturbing". European Commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said the "reported involvement of Georgian Dream politicians in the brutal attack" was shocking, and said there was no place for violence or impunity in any democracy.
Meanwhile, the political council of the European People’s Party (EPP) on January 14 adopted an emergency resolution on Georgia condemning the crackdown, illegal detention, torture, and inhuman treatment of civilians participating in continuous peaceful protests since 28 November, 2024. The resolution called on all members of the EPP to “refrain from recognizing the self-proclaimed regime of the Georgian Dream.”
However, according to press reports, Georgian Dream figures have accused Gakharia of initiating the clash himself. MP Levan Machavariani told reporters everything was clear from the footage, while Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said the opposition's agenda was based on lies and deceit. A spokeswoman for For Georgia said the identities of Gakharia's attackers have not been determined and the party has requested any hotel security footage be handed over to police.
Earlier on Tuesday, a Georgian court ordered Mzia Amaghlobeli, a leading Georgian media director, sent to pre-trial detention for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a rally in Batumi. The EU delegation in Georgia urged Tbilisi to release Amaghlobeli and other detained protesters in a statement, saying "impunity cannot prevail."
The attack on Gakharia, who served as Georgia's prime minister from 2019 until 2021, follows on the heels of other assaults on opposition figures and well-known journalists in recent months. Nika Gvaramia, the leader of the Coalition for Change party, was knocked to the ground while being detained by police in December in Tbilisi. He was later jailed for 12 days for petty hooliganism and disobeying police.
