Public Defender Urges Police to Timely Investigate ‘Another Attack’ on female Politician
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, February 1
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has urged the law enforcement agencies to timely investigate the attack on the Georgian Dream ruling party lawmaker Eka Beselia, who says that her personal life video footage went viral this week.
Beselia says that the video was recorded by the United National Movement leadership to blackmail her and its release now, under the Georgian Dream authorities, could be related to her critical position regarding the judges nominated for the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Personal life footage of another Georgian female politician was released several years ago, under the Georgian Dream leadership. The footage was also recorded under the UNM government.
“Another attack on the female politician, the attempt to discredit her and the systemic weapon against women - this is the reality the female public figures work in,” Lomjaria said.
“This is a gender-based crime and is directed towards female policymakers. Therefore, it is important the investigation underlines that the crime is motivated by discrimination and those who commit such crimes must be held accountable,” Lomjaria stated.
Georgian media reports that the footage was sent in a private message to a daughter-in-law of another lawmaker, who phoned Beselia and informed her about.
The lawmaker-David Chichinadze and his family members have already been summoned for interrogation.
Tchitchinadze believes that the Georgian Dream ruling party stands behind the leakage, as Beselia opposed the list of “biased judges”, who were presented in parliament in December 2018 for confirmation.
Beselia claimed that Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze lobbed the list. For the statement, Beselia was grilled by Kobakhidze and the founder of the Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili. It was even said that Beselia would be dismissed from the party.
Kobakhidze and Ivanishvili stated that Beselia’s quitting the post as the head of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee was decided and agreed with her in Sumer and, thus, her resignation in December 2018 “had nothing to do with the judges.”
