Georgian Dream to sue BBC

The Georgian Dream party intend to file lawsuits in international courts against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) over what they call fake news claiming police used chemical agents against protesters.

The BBC recently published a report alleging that Georgian authorities had deployed chemical weapons from the World War I era against demonstrators in 2024. The article based its claims on testimonies from participants in Tbilisi protests: Konstantin Chakhunashvili (protester and pediatrician), Lasha Shergelashvili (former Special Tasks Department official) and Christopher Holstege (toxicologist and chemical weapons expert).

"In light of this malicious piece of propaganda, designed to tarnish the Georgian government, the Georgian police, and, most critically, Georgian statehood itself, we have decided to initiate legal proceedings against this dishonest media outlet in international courts. We will exhaust all legal mechanisms to ensure this self-proclaimed media entity is held accountable for disseminating unfounded allegations," the statement reads.

The party underscored that the BBC presented no evidence in its report, relying exclusively on statements from biased sources, protesters and political opponents of the government, some of whom hold prior convictions for their activities.

Prior to publication, the Georgian Dream press service had furnished the broadcaster with comprehensive responses to all inquiries and had requested that the authorities' position be fully reflected in accordance with professional journalistic standards. Nonetheless, the final article incorporated less than 1% of the detailed clarifications the party had provided to its authors.