Six opposition activists detained at ruling party headquarters
The detainees were demanding an investigation into the recently released audio recording between the current PM and the son of the ruling party founder. Photo: IPN.
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Six opposition activists have been detained at the headquarters of the Georgian Dream ruling party earlier today for disobedience to police.
The activists gathered there ahead of today’s meeting of the ruling party and were demanding the investigation of the content of the recently released wiretap involving current PM Irakli Garibashvili and the son of the ruling party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, Bera Ivanishvili.
On March 6 TV Pirveli aired audio conversations in which Bera Ivanishvili seems to be tasking Anzor Chubinidze, the head of the Special State Protection Service, to punish minors for online posts insulting the Ivanishvili family.
Georgian Dream party members say that the recording was made illegally under the United National Movement government back in 2010-2011, when Bera Ivanishvili was a minor and neither Garibashvili nor Chubinidze held public posts.
The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia has already launched an investigation into the case.
The Prosecutor's Office says that the investigation is looking into unauthorised recording of a private conversation or wiretapping, as well as recording of private communication, illegal use and dissemination of information obtained through technical means.
The opposition says that the recording contains the ‘signs of a crime’ and the Prosecutor’s Office ‘must also look into it.’
The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia has launched an investigation into the alleged wiretap of a conversation between Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, the son of the Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, Bera Ivanishvili, and Anzor Chubinidze, who serves as the Head of the Special State Protection Service.
The ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party has released a statement regarding the alleged wiretap of a conversation between PM Garibashvili and other high-profile individuals, which reads that the ‘fabrication of the recordings seems to be a careful and long work, saved for the right moment'.
Civil society organisations including the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC), Transparency International Georgia and the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) call for investigation into the alleged violation by state officials after TV Pirveli media outlet aired covert phone conversation between Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Bera Ivanishvili - the son of the former ruling Georgian Dream party chair Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Georgian PM nominee Irakli Garibashvili says that the resumption of order in the country, coronavirus vaccination and drafting a 10-year ‘ambitious plan’ for state development will be the major priorities of the new government in the first 100 days. Garibashvili also said that the ‘return of the destructive forces to the constitutional frames’ will be on the top of the agenda.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that the country’s third President Mikheil Saakashvili is behind the ‘dirty provocation of a fake audio recording’ which allegedly features a wiretap of a conversation between him (Garibashvili) and the son of the founder of the Georgian Dream ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The US Embassy to Georgia has reported that they are ‘watching closely’ the developments around channel TV Pirveli which has recently released a audio recording allegedly featuring a wiretap of a conversation between Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili and the son of the founder of the Georgian Dream ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Three opposition activists who were arrested at a solidarity rally for the currently imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili in November have been released on ₾5,000 ($1,800) bail for each on Friday by Tbilisi City Court.