Georgia’s ruling party official on the BBC film: this brazen slander will not go unanswered

Irakli Kirtskhalia, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party faction in the legislative body, on Wednesday condemned the BBC’s investigative report as “brazen slander”, vowing that it would not remain without consequences.

In his remarks, Kirtskhalia noted that neither the Government nor Georgian society had anything to prove, insisting that the accusations presented in the BBC film were entirely false.

“We have nothing to prove - believe me, this brazen slander will not go unanswered”, he said.

The official suggested that former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’s recent comments about British institutions illustrated the broader decline of the BBC and the country’s political elite.

“As for the BBC and the political situation unfolding in the United Kingdom, the former Prime Minister Liz Truss herself responds to this very well. It clearly reflects what the BBC and the political elite in Britain represent today, and where a fully controlled media environment and political elite are steering this truly historic and great country”, Kirtskhalia concluded.

The investigation conducted by the State Security Service confirmed that the substances used during the December 4–5, 2024 events were legitimate crowd-control agents, including chlorobenzylidene malononitrile dissolved in propylene glycol, and that the alleged chemical Camite was never purchased by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The BBC published an investigative article claiming that the Georgian authorities deployed a chemical substance dating back to World War I during protests in 2024.

The Georgian Government rejected the allegations and announced legal proceedings against the BBC in international courts.