The Georgian Dream and freedom of expression

Prime Minister Kobakhidze declares himself ‘available at any time for discussions with members of the pro-Western opposition’. But these same forces, which do not recognise the legitimacy of his government, remind him of their leaders in prison and the approval of the law against ‘foreign agents’. Meanwhile, Tbilisi is cut off from trade agreements between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Tbilisi (AsiaNews) - Political and social tension in Georgia remains high, given the Georgian Dream regime's attempt to outlaw all opposition. Many of their representatives are in prison, with appeals from former president Salome Zurabišvili to bring down the current government, considered illegitimate, and to call new parliamentary elections to respect the will of the people with transparency. In response, Prime Minister Iraklij Kobakhidze declares himself ‘available at any time to participate in debates with members of the pro-Western opposition’.

In a long message on social media, the head of government affirms the need to “restore society's right to open discussion”, accusing his opponents of being the real culprits behind the restrictions on freedom of expression, calling them “Georgian agents of the international Deep State”.

In particular, Kobakhidze takes aim at one of the leaders of the Akhali party and former owner of Mtavari TV, Nika Gvaramija, considered one of the main culprits behind the suppression of freedom of speech.

Sentenced in 2019 to three years in prison on implausible corruption charges, Gvaramija was pardoned in 2023 by then-President Zurabišvili, only to be re-arrested for refusing to participate in the work of the illegitimate parliament. He is now one of the most frequent targets of criticism from Georgian Dream, partly because of his close ties to his godfather, former President Mikhail Saakashvili, who has been behind bars for over five years.

Kobakhidze said that ‘everything changed after 2008’, when, under Saakashvili's presidency, Georgia found itself in conflict with Russia because of the interference of powerful Western forces, which led to a ‘dramatic weakening of the sovereignty of the entire European Union’ and a decline in its democratic values. Repeating typical Russian propaganda arguments, the prime minister spoke of Europe's ‘pseudo-liberal values’, artificially linked to ‘LGBT issues and gender identity’, green policies and much more.

This, in his opinion, has prevented a “healthy debate” within European society, polluting the social climate even in Georgia, which was then saved by the initiative of the Georgian Dream party founded by the pro-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili.

According to this reconstruction, Nika Gvaramija was entrusted with the main task of preventing true freedom of expression, spreading ‘everything that is foreign to us’ in the media, preventing people from distinguishing truth from lies, and imposing a climate of division and ‘collective hysteria’ in which ‘normal’ people could not participate.

Now one of the opposition leaders, Zurab Džaparidze of the “Girči – More Freedom” party, has accepted Kobakhidze's challenge, inviting him to a debate “in person and in any format”, while Irakli Pavlenishvili, a member of the National Movement, the party of Saakashvili and Gvaramija, rejects the accusations, stating that “it was Ivanishvili and his spokespeople who killed public debate in Georgia”.

He therefore calls for the release of all political prisoners in order to bring the country out of the deep crisis it finds itself in, by amending repressive and electoral legislation. Grigol Gegelja of the Lelo party has also offered to participate in debates with members of the ruling caste, even though, in his opinion, the ban on opposition parties proposed to the constitutional court makes the situation ‘rather grotesque’.

PalitraNews journalist Merab Metreveli notes that in the past, Georgian Dream politicians used to come to televised debates, but after the approval of the “Russian” law against foreign agents, none of them have been seen or heard on independent channels and radio stations, limiting themselves to making proclamations on state media, where, incidentally, they have never invited any opponents.

Gvaramija himself warns from prison that Georgia is excluding itself from all international relations, as seen in the agreement in Davos a few days ago, in which Armenia and Azerbaijan decided to route commercial transport through the new “Trump peace route”, which excludes Georgia from the itineraries because of “our government, which has made us an international rogue state”.