
Photo: Georgian mass media
Giorgi Gakharia
The former government official, now an opposition figure, suffered a concussion; he also has a broken nose.
Former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, now the leader of the opposition party For Georgia, was beaten in Batumi. He suffered a concussion and a broken nose, the newspaper Novosti-Gruzia reported on Wednesday, January 15.
The attack took place at night in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Batumi. The circumstances preceding the incident, as well as the number of participants in the events, are not reported. According to witnesses, among the participants in the beating were seen a deputy from the "People's Power", a satellite of the ruling party, Dmitri Samkharadze, and a member of the Supreme Council of Adjara from the ruling party, Giorgi Manvelidze.
The police patrol arrived at the scene only 40 minutes after the call, much later than the ambulance.
The police reported that they had opened proceedings under the article of the Criminal Code on assault. They did not comment on the involvement of the deputies in the incident.
The hospital where Gakharia was taken for examination said the car arrived at around 02:30 a.m., and after the diagnosis, he refused to stay for further treatment. The ex-premier was diagnosed with a fractured nose and a concussion.
In addition to Gakharia, journalist Zviad Koridze also reported being attacked in the same location. According to him, the attack occurred before the incident with Gakharia, when he was sitting in the hotel lobby with his wife.
The aforementioned Sakhmaradze and the woman who was with him allegedly approached Koridze themselves and began to insult him and the United National Movement party, behaving increasingly aggressively, and then his comrades joined in. The journalist approached the security guard with a request to protect him and, according to him, at that time someone hit him.
Georgian leader Salome Zurabishvili decided to leave the presidential palace on the day of the inauguration of President-elect Mikheil Kavelashvili.
It has become known that next week a bill will be introduced to the US Congress to recognize Salome Zurabishvili as the sole legitimate president of Georgia.