Georgia’s ruling party official slams BBC for serving informal oligarchic rule

Levan Machavariani, the First Deputy Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party faction in the legislative body, on Tuesday criticised a recent article published by the BBC by saying that “it is deeply regrettable that a broadcaster with such a reputation has descended into absurdity to serve the interests of informal oligarchic rule”.

Machavariani responded to an article published by BBC on Monday alleging that the Georgian Dream Government used a World War I-era chemical agent during recent protests.

In his remarks, Machavariani noted that the ruling Georgian Dream party would launch a legal challenge against the BBC in order to expose it for spreading disinformation against the country.

“It is very sad that a television broadcasting company with such a reputation has descended into such absurdity in order to satisfy the interests of an informal oligarchic Government. Just as the reputation of the Swiss banking system was damaged due to increased pressure on us and specifically on Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili, we now see a similar situation occurring in the media space. We will not leave this unchallenged. We intend to initiate legal action against the BBC to reveal the disinformation it has spread against our country”, the official said.

The Georgian State Security Service on Monday launched an investigation in response to information about an alleged crime circulated in the public domain by the BBC.

According to the official statement, the investigation aims to determine in detail the basis of the information used by the BBC, including the interviews and claims provided by the individuals featured in the report, as well as the relevance and credibility of these statements.