IDFI Director, TV Formula Crew Assaulted
Giorgi Kldiashvili, Executive Director of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), a watchdog, was verbally and physically assaulted while speaking to journalists. Kldiashvili was being interviewed by opposition-leaning TV Formula after meeting the Swedish Minister for International Cooperation at the Swedish Embassy
The video shows the attacker, whose face and car are identifiable passing by pointing at people standing near the Swedish embassy, and swearing at those who “are supporting these people.” Having returned from the nearby shop, he enters into a verbal and then physical altercation with the TV Formula crew and Kldiashvili.
The ruling party has been portraying the CSO leaders and opposition as being against traditional values, and faith and as “people without a motherland.”
As thousands hit the streets against the foreign agents’ law, there have been reports of altercation and violence against vocal opponents of the bill, including outside the immediate context of the rallies. On the night of May 2-3, protesters leaving the rally were assaulted and injured by a group of athletic men who approached them in several cars in what appeared to be a planned attack. A few days ago, Lado Apkhazava, the winner of the National Teacher Award, and his son were attacked and physically assaulted in the western Georgian region of Guria, in the town of Lanchkhuti. Many civil society and opinion leaders reported today being verbally abused by anonymous callers, explicitly for opposing the law.
The Public Defender’s Office reacted to the incident, calling on the police to immediately investigate and establish the motives of recent attacks and their possible connection with victims’ professional activities or their opinions.
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