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Gakharia: Attack on Me Is Ivanishvili’s Political Revenge

Giorgi Gakharia, the leader of the opposition For Georgia party, who was attacked on January 15 in the Sheraton hotel in Batumi, said that the attack against him had the semblance of a premediated “political revenge” and was ordered and authored by Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Speaking at today’s briefing he said: “I and, in fact, my team were the victims of a premeditated and pre-organized violent attack, which had the appearance of political revenge, and which was ordered and authored by Bidzina Ivanishvili.”

Gakharia said Ivanishvili had been threatening him and his family “in various forms” for a long time, including publicly. He said he was not focusing on the perpetrators of the attack, but only on the “mastermind behind it” – Bidzina Ivanishvili, whom he described as “the main architect of violence” and “the main root of evil” in Georgia today.

He added that for Ivanishvili, who has taken the country “hostage” today, the most important values are money and power. “And we should do everything so that he loses both – money and power,” Gakharia added: “I promise you that I will be at the forefront of this struggle with you every day.”

He also noted that he did not believe in the official investigation into the case. He said that the attack on him had been videotaped by an individual, apparently on purpose, as he claimed that it was this footage that ended up in the hands of the pro-government media, which edited it to pin the blame on him. Meanwhile, he claimed that the management of the Sheraton Batumi hotel had been pressured into destroying its CCTV footage. But Gakharia said there was a special team that would find out “everything” about the attack.

At the end of the briefing, he again vowed, “I will do whatever it takes to ensure that Ivanishvili loses what he values most – money and power.”

Gakharia was reportedly attacked by GD MP Dimitri Samkharadze and Adjara’s GD Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Giorgi Manvelidze. Several other GD MPs were reportedly involved in the attack on the opposition leader.

Gakharia, now one of the opposition leaders, served as the Prime Minister of Georgia under the GD government in 2019-2021.

Before the country’s 2024 parliamentary elections in October, Bidzina Ivanishvili showed particular anger toward Gakharia, saying in his interview with pro-GD Imedi TV that he was particularly “irritated” with Gakharia and his team and that they deserved ” strict punishment.”

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This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)

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