Batumi, Georgia: Giorgi Gakharia, a former prime minister of Georgia who now leads one of the country’s main opposition groups, was hospitalized after being severely beaten in the Sheraton hotel in Batumi on January 14, 2025, Tuesday.
According to the information, collected through various reports, it was found that Gakharia was attacked by “Georgian Dream” parliament member Dito Samkharadze and Giorgi Manvelidze, a member of the Supreme Council of Adjara from the same party.
He was attacked and brutally beaten in the lobby of the Sheraton hotel in Batumi. The politician was taken to the hospital, where he refused hospitalization and left the clinic after receiving first aid.
Giorgia Gakharia posted on social media on Wednesday morning that “healthwise I’m doing fine”, but the doctor who treated him said he had fractured a bone in his nose and had a trauma.
In a statement, Georgia’s ombudsman Levan Ioseliani criticized the attacks on both Gakharia and Zviad Koridze. He called for an immediate response “so that attacks on politicians and journalists are not incited”.
Georgian officials hosted a press conference in Tbilisi that the former PM was attacked on the morning of January 15. In the conference, the officials discussed the attacks on ministers that are taking place all around the country.
The risks regarding the possible destruction of video evidence are increasing every minute, especially in conditions where the current prime minister and other officials are already openly and publicly dictating to the judiciary what direction and version they should take,” Sichinava said.
“Therefore, we are officially requesting the Sheraton Hotel to provide us with the video footage of the attack on Giorgi Gakharia,” he added.
Video of the incident late on Tuesday night in the Sheraton hotel lobby in Batumi was unclear, although Gakharia could be seen being forced to the floor by a group of men. Images showed him later with blood on his shirt.
Only one short video has been made public so far, and the hotel said it was not from its cameras.
Georgian Police officials are trying to stop the EU protests and such actions of the opposition parties. This is true that such crimes are increasing in Georgia but Government is making efforts to stop them. The citizens of Georgia should trust the process of the government and should have some patience. The Georgian Police will surely take strict actions to stop such attacks.