Ruling Georgian Dream party launches legal proceedings against BBC in international courts

The ruling Georgian Dream party on Monday issued a statement regarding a recent article published by the BBC.

“This morning, the BBC published an article which, in addition to several absurd, false pieces of information, includes an accusation against the Georgian Government: that the Ministry of Internal Affairs allegedly used a “chemical substance” against violent protestors during the illegal rallies. Evidently, the so-called media, which has become a propaganda tool of the deep state, has presented no facts to substantiate this serious accusation. Moreover, all their assumptions are based on the opinions of specific individuals, among whom is Doctor Chakhunashvili, who is an active participant in the illegal rallies, and whose family member, his father, Giorgi Chakhunashvili, personally participated in the process of the overthrow of the government on October 4 and physically trespassed into the yard of the Presidential palace.

Furthermore, the article mainly features interested parties: Gigauri, the accused Khasaia, the accused Shaishmelashvili, the convicted Bachiashvili, and other similar individuals. The Georgian Dream communication service had active communication with the investigative journalist before the article was published. We prepared comprehensive answers to absolutely every question the BBC provided us with, and we meticulously and in detail satisfied the British media’s interest point by point. Given that this media outlet has recently been involved in several scandals, has repeatedly been proven to spread falsehoods, and has even seen a change in top management as a result, we set only two conditions at the beginning of our response: that they fully cover our position, and we offered to provide evidence for every single word we sent. In parallel, we demanded that, in adherence to high journalistic standards, all discussions presented in the article be based only on evidence. In return, we received a torrent of lies, severe accusations against the government which, as we noted, are built on the accounts of interested parties and, clearly, have no connection to reality.

It is known to the public that a few weeks ago, the BBC became embroiled in a scandal when the so-called media outlet broadcast a crudely edited interview with the US President Donald Trump, where the context and content of the conversation were altered. Due to this manipulation, the broadcaster's Director-General and the Chief Executive Officer of News resigned, although this resembled more of a concession to the US President than taking responsibility for an error. The fact that the BBC has no moral or professional barrier to executing dirty orders and spreading lies is clearly visible from the article published today, and their management change reminds us of the changes of several Prime Ministers in Britain in recent years, which have not led to even superficial changes in that country, let alone fundamental ones. As a result, one government controlled by the deep state replaced another.

Because the once-authoritative media, which today has become a propaganda tool of informal governance, publicly spread false accusations against the Georgian government and failed to cite even one piece of evidence to substantiate these accusations in the article; because the so-called journalistic investigation built on lies is primarily based on the accounts of criminals and has nothing to do with reality; because the BBC received exhaustive answers to all questions yet did not publish even 1% of the reasoned responses in the article; because this dirty propagandistic material is an attempt to tarnish the Government of Georgia, the Georgian police, and most importantly - the Georgian statehood - we have made the decision to initiate a legal dispute against this fake media outlet in international courts. We will use every possible legal avenue to ensure that the so-called media, which spreads lies, is held accountable for disseminating dirty, false accusations”, the statement said