Journalists in Tbilisi during street demonstrations - F. Baccini
Physical attacks, insults, obstacles at work, damage to equipment, arrests. In Georgia journalists have become a target of police violence during the street protests, while state broadcasters are accused of disinformation
Over 90 journalists have been injured, arrested or prevented from working during the street protests that have been animating Georgian cities, from the capital Tbilisi to smaller ones, since November 28.
Physical attacks, insults, obstacles to their work during demonstrations, damage to equipment, unjustified arrests. Since the demonstrations began against the government's decision to stall the EU accession talks "until the end of 2028" and more generally against the Georgian Dream regime – as the protesters calling for "new free and democratic elections" define it – media professionals have also been hit by the unprecedented violence of the police and gangs of men dressed in black, with their faces covered and without badges who operate under the command of Zviad 'Khareba' Kharazishvili, head of the Department for Special Tasks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"It seemed that wearing the 'Press' tag made us even more attractive targets", says Davit of Euronews Georgia, speaking of the hottest days in early December, when riot police charged protesters with smoke bombs and water cannons in front of the Parliament.
Due to the risk of physical and professional repercussions in the climate of increasing repression of civil society in the country, reporters and operators of independent or non-government-affiliated outlets asked not to reveal their names.
"The worst was not during the protests, which were dangerous anyway, but above all returning home or moving around alone during the day. In the alleys of the city centre I was terrified of meeting Khareba's gangs", says Elena, a journalist for the independent TV Pirveli.
On December 7, her colleague Maka Chikhladze was attacked and violently thrown to the ground by masked men in a secondary street of the capital, while cameraman Giorgi Shetsiruli – who was filming the scene live – was kicked in the head.
Escalation after the law on foreign agents
Anna Gvarishvili, head of the Investigative Media Lab, a centre for the promotion of investigative journalism at the University of Georgia, explains to OBCT that "before the law on foreign agents it was quite safe to work in Georgia, there was some pressure but it couldn't be out in the open".
The situation changed after the spring of 2024, when the ruling Georgian Dream party forced the hand to introduce a law that had already been aborted the previous year in the face of mass protests by the Georgian population.
Despite weeks of huge demonstrations in Tbilisi to prevent the return of a draft law that took inspiration from the one in force in Russia since 2022, from May 28 all organisations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad must register as "organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power".
This has meant that even independent media outlets that are not affiliated with the government and that receive support from European or US organisations or foundations (and that in any case already disclose the source of their income) "are registered and receive increasingly explicit pressure and threats on a daily basis", continues Gvarishvili, stressing that "all this is now legitimised in practice by the government".
The rapid deterioration of press freedom, high-level smear campaigns, targeted violence and impunity for crimes against journalists have led the Center for Media, Information and Social Studies (CMIS) to launch a project for media safety in Georgia, which includes a database of violence and abuse against journalists, a map showing where they occurred and a detailed explanation of individual events.
The president of the Media Advocacy Coalition is not afraid to speak of the "Russification of Georgia", which is based on two pillars: "Brutal violence against protesters and anti-Western propaganda spread through state-controlled media".
Andguladze does not reveal any secrets when he talks about how pro-government state television channels like Imedi TV "continue this well-established strategy of justifying police attacks, downplaying the scale of the protests and helping to spread the blatant lies of the regime" led by the party of the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The latest and most glaring example was Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's thanking of Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Spain and Italy for "defending the interests of the Georgian people in the Council of the European Union".
However, the Foreign Affairs Council of 16 December did not pass the sanctions (which require the unanimity of the 27 governments) against those responsible for the crisis in Georgia because only Hungary and Slovakia voted against, while the suspension of the visa-free regime at the diplomatic level was approved by qualified majority and with the support of all but Budapest and Bratislava.
The Tbilisi government's statement thus forced the Italian, Spanish and Romanian Foreign Ministries to deny the reconstruction, calling it "disinformation".
The incumbent President Salomé Zourabichvili also referred to this issue, addressing the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on December 18: "You have seen the government's lies, but know that the three answers [of the aforementioned countries] were not made public by public television". In other words, this means that "people who watch these channels do not know that this is disinformation" and that Georgian Dream is isolated in Europe.
Journalists at work in Tbilisi during the demonstrations (photo F. Baccini)
The appeal of international organisations in Brussels
The situation has become so worrying that 11 international organisations for media freedom, journalists and human rights – including OBCT – have written an urgent appeal to the leaders of the European Union institutions to react to the "critical" situation of press freedom in Georgia.
"The scale of the media crackdown since 28 November, following the decision of the ruling Georgian Dream party to break off Georgia's negotiating talks with the EU, has been unprecedented", the letter reads.
The call to the Presidents of the Commission, Council and European Parliament and to High Representative Kaja Kallas is to "use all influence to swiftly put an end to the crackdown on journalists in Georgia", including "targeted sanctions against those responsible for the attacks" and a clear call to Georgian Dream members to respect the right of journalists to report on the ongoing demonstrations "without fear for their safety".
It should not be forgotten that Georgia is a candidate country for EU membership and, for this reason too, "the decline in democratic freedom and the rise of authoritarianism" cannot be ignored in Brussels.
In defence of press freedom and civil rights in a potential future member of the Union, according to the 11 international organisations, the leaders of the European institutions must demand "unequivocally and publicly" that Georgia be guaranteed a "safe and favourable" environment for journalists reporting on the protests, the provision of news gathering equipment and safety gear. But above all "fully transparent investigations and adequate sanctions" against those responsible for crimes against information professionals.
This article was produced by OBC Transeuropa as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors, and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries.
