Georgian government escalates dispute with BBC to international court

Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party has announced that it is pursuing legal action in an international court against the British broadcaster BBC, accusing the outlet of publishing false and defamatory content.

In an official statement, Georgian Dream condemned the broadcaster for allegedly spreading “dirt and lies” and misrepresenting the actions of the government during last year’s anti-government protests in Tbilisi, Caliber.Az reports.

“This morning, BBC published an article that, alongside a number of absurd and false claims, accused the Georgian authorities of using a ‘chemical substance’ against aggressive protesters during unlawful demonstrations. Clearly, these so-called media, turned into the propagandistic weapon of the ‘deep state,’ have no factual basis for such a serious accusation,” the statement read.

The party stressed that it had provided BBC with detailed responses to all inquiries and imposed two conditions: to fully present Georgia’s perspective and to allow the party to provide evidence for every statement made. Georgian Dream further insisted that all arguments in the article adhere to rigorous journalistic standards and be based on verifiable evidence. “Instead, we received a stream of lies and severe accusations against the authorities, built on the testimonies of interested parties and clearly unrelated to reality,” the statement added.

The BBC article alleges that during the suppression of protests in Tbilisi last year, Georgian authorities used ‘camite’, described as a chemical warfare agent dating back to World War I.

By Vafa Guliyeva