The ruling Georgian Dream party is initiating legal proceedings against the BBC in international courts. The party says the British broadcaster disseminated “serious and baseless accusations” against the Georgian government, which are “built on accounts provided by interested parties and have no connection to reality.”
“Today, the BBC published an article containing numerous absurd and false details, including an allegation that the Ministry of Internal Affairs used a ‘chemical substance’ against violent protesters during unlawful demonstrations. The media outlet—which has turned into a propaganda tool of the so-called ‘deep state’—presented no evidence whatsoever to support this allegation. All of their assumptions are based on the opinions of specific individuals, including Dr. Chakhnashvili, an active participant in illegal protests, whose father, Giorgi Chakhnashvili, took part in the October 4 attempt to ‘overthrow the government’ and physically entered the courtyard of the Presidential Palace,” the party states.
Georgian Dream says the article features only “interested parties,” among them Gigaura, the accused Khasaia, the accused Shaishmelashvili, the convicted Bachiashvili, and other similar individuals.
The party’s communications office says that prior to the publication, they were in active communication with the BBC’s “investigative journalist” and provided “full, detailed answers” to all questions. They claim they set two conditions for the BBC: to fully reflect the government’s position, and to ensure that all assessments in the article were based on evidence.
“Instead, we received a torrent of lies and grave accusations built solely on stories provided by interested parties. Everyone remembers that not long ago the BBC was embroiled in scandal after releasing a doctored interview with U.S. President Donald Trump, presented in altered context. The Director-General and the head of news resigned due to this manipulation, though it looked more like ‘passing the buck’ than taking real responsibility,” the statement reads.
The party argues that changes in BBC management are “superficial” and, “similar to the frequent changes of British prime ministers in recent years, have produced no real results.”
“Because a once-respected media outlet, now turned into a tool of informal governance propaganda, publicly disseminated false accusations against the Georgian government without providing a single piece of evidence; because its ‘journalistic investigation’ is based on accounts of criminals and does not correspond to reality; because the BBC received exhaustive answers to all questions but failed to reflect even 1% of our position in the article; and because this propagandistic material is an attempt to smear the Georgian government, the police, and statehood itself — we have decided to initiate legal action in international courts. We will use every legal mechanism to ensure that the outlet spreading falsehoods is held accountable,” Georgian Dream declares.
BBC Investigation
Earlier today, the BBC published an investigative report claiming that evidence gathered by the broadcaster “indicates” that the Georgian government used “a World War I-era chemical weapon” to disperse anti-government protests last year.
According to the BBC, protesters demonstrating against the suspension of the EU accession process reported burning eyes, shortness of breath, coughing, and vomiting that “persisted for weeks.”
The broadcaster says it spoke with chemical weapons experts, former members of Georgia’s special forces, and medical professionals. The BBC reports that the “evidence heard points to an agent known as ‘camite,’ a substance once used by the French military.”
Image: Publika
Related: BBC: Georgian protest dispersal claims raise concerns over use of WWI-era agent
