EU calls Georgian Dream’s involvement in brutal attacks on opposition leader ‘shocking’

“The reported involvement of Georgian Dream politicians in the brutal attack on former Georgian Prime Minister and opposition leader Giorgi Gakharia is shocking,” the EU’s Lead Spokesperson on Foreign and Security Policy, Anitta Hipper, said on X on 15 January.

Gakharia was beaten up by a group of men on the evening of 14 January at a hotel in Batumi.

“There is no place for violence or impunity in any democracy – let alone in an EU candidate country,” Anitta Hipper said.

On 15 January, the EU Delegation to Georgia released a statement saying that Georgians continue to face detention for exercising their fundamental rights. 

“The arrest of Mzia Amaghlobeli [co-founder and director of ‘Netgazeti’ and ‘Batumelebi’ online newspapers ] and Guram Murvanidze [Batumelebi’s cameraman] further degrades freedom of expression. All those unjustly detained must be released. The EU calls for the right to fair trials to be upheld. Impunity cannot prevail,” the EU Delegation said in a Facebook post.

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