On September 30, an anonymous Facebook account under the name Katie Toloraya shared a video showing the foster mother of Archil Museliantsi, who was detained during the protests, speaking on the phone. The author suggests that Tsaro Oshakmashvili is talking to ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili about the protest, with the caption added to the footage: “She’s blowing smoke at Misha.”
From the comments under the video, it is evident that many Facebook users take the claim at face value and believe that Tsaro Oshakmashvili is in fact speaking with Mikheil Saakashvili.
The video of a conversation of Archil Museliantsi’s family member, Tsaro Oshakmashvili, is being spread in a manipulative manner. She is talking to the imprisoned Archil Museliantsi, not to Mikheil Saakashvili. The full version of the video was published by the outlet Batumelebi.
On September 29, Batumelebi released the video captioned, “Archil Museliantsi’s call to his foster mother, Tsaro Oshakmashvili.” In the video, the woman tells Archil Museliants about the protest and assures him that he will soon be released from prison. During the phone call, she says:
“Do you believe me now? You didn’t believe me that you’ll be out soon. […] That day, yesterday, we pushed against the police at the Philharmonic, the women neutralized them, we blocked the road… We had a warm-up, so our fighting spirit… you know, of course, you believe in us.”
The woman also mentions starting studies at the university, which confirms that she is indeed speaking with Archil Museliantsi. He became a student while serving his sentence.
Museliantsi was arrested on November 30 of last year and was accused of deliberately damaging the power supply of cameras mounted on poles in front of Parliament and setting them on fire. On August 22, he was sentenced to 4 years in prison.
Myth Detector has previously fact-checked similar videos. In the past, an anonymous Facebook account circulated a fabricated video as if Tedo Abramovi, acquitted in a drug case, was speaking with Mikheil Saakashvili after leaving the court. You can read more about this on the Myth Detector website:
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