▲‘March of Georgians’ in Tbilisi on 14 July (Luka Pertaia/OC Media)
The March of Georgians in Tbilisi on 14 July (Luka Pertaia/OC Media)
Police in Georgia have opened an investigation into organisers of the recent far-right March in Tbilisi, after a number of them threatened a woman who criticised their movement with rape.
Tatia Dolidze, a former Georgian Youth Delegate at the UN, was met with threats of sexual violence and gang rape on Facebook on 17 July, after criticising the organisers and attendees of the xenophobic, ethno-nationalist demonstration.
Gia Korkotashvili, a leading figure of the March, Mikheil Amisulashvili, a member of political group Erovnuloba (‘nationality’), who organised the march, and Konstantine Morgoshia, member of parliamentary political party the Alliance of Patriots, were reportedly the most active offenders.
‘This is a criminal offence and the reaction to it will be adequate’, Dolidze wrote on her private Facebook account, before taking the case to the police.
In response to the threats, women’s rights groups have planned a counter-demonstration to the March of Georgians on 19 July.
‘Georgia must adopt a law on sexual harassment’, their statement read.
The groups have been asking for some time for legislative amendments to fight against sexual harassment, as there are currently no laws against sexual harassment in Georgia.
Police opened an investigation on 17 July for ‘making threats’, which is punishable by up to a year in prison.
Women’s rights groups also called on the media to ‘abstain from spreading hate-speech and fascist rhetoric’ by interviewing people ‘distinguished by calls for violence’.
Georgia’s Public Defender said he was concerned over ‘obviously misogynistic language and hate speech’, which, he claimed reinforces gender inequality.
‘People, who can not compete with an active, smart and successful woman, have but one choice, to try and shame them’, deputy speaker of Georgia’s Parliament Tamar Chugoshvili said.
Over the last month, Azerbaijan’s official government news agency Azertac has published multiple articles focusing on ethnic Azerbaijani candidates running for the ruling Georgian Dream party, while failing to provide a platform for Azerbaijani opposition candidates.
On 16 October, Azertac interviewed Georgian Dream MP Zaur Darghalli, who said that his party had guaranteed stability in Georgia, and elaborated on how it was able to keep the peace for the last 12 years.
‘These elections are
With Georgia’s parliamentary elections inching closer, both the ruling Georgian Dream party and the many groups representing the opposition are scrambling to prepare for the critical vote on 26 October.
This week, OC Media’s Robin Fabbro, Mariam Nikuradze, and Shota Kincha discuss how the pre-election campaign period has been going, claims of electoral violations by Georgian Dream, and the atmosphere in Georgia ahead of the vote.
Read more:
* Who’s who in Georgia’s pa
Georgia’s parliamentary elections on 26 October, unlike the previous vote, will be held without any gender quotas. As women’s representation in Georgian politics remains an issue, we have examined the electoral lists of all the major parties and groupings and ranked them based on how many women they included — and how highly they were placed.
The ruling Georgian Dream party pushed through mandatory gender quotas ahead of the 2020 parliamentary and 2021 local elections in an apparent bid to pro
A Georgian elections watchdog has published a report outlining the increased use of AI technology in the pre-election period, including the creation of deep fakes based on opposition politicians.
On Tuesday, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) reported that anonymous actors had used AI technologies to forge the voices of Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili and For Georgia chair Giorgi Gakharia in videos shared on social media.
According to ISFED, one such a
Police in Georgia have opened an investigation into organisers of the recent far-right March in Tbilisi, after a number of them threatened a woman who criticised their movement with rape.
