On April 2, the Facebook pages of POSTV (1, 2) posted an information card featuring a photo of the Czech Ambassador to Georgia, Petr Kubernát, with the caption: “The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Georgia refers to Saakashvili’s regime as the ‘beacon of democracy’ and accuses the government of ‘drifting toward authoritarianism’ due to the imprisonment of the police attacker, Mzia Amaghlobeli.”
POSTV covers the statement of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Georgia in a manipulative way and misleads readers into thinking that they are referring only to Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration as the “beacon of democracy.” In reality, the statement from the Embassy does not mention the United National Movement party or its leaders. In written communication with Myth Detector, the Embassy clarified that Georgia’s democratic development began before 2003, continued after the coming to power of the Georgian Dream, and has represented a “beacon of democracy” in the region from the time of independence to the present day.
On April 2, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Georgia published a statement on Facebook regarding the detention of journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli. According to the statement, the embassies of the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and the European Union in Georgia have been observing the criminal case launched against Amaghlobeli. The embassy’s post emphasizes the role of the media as a watchdog and the importance of independent journalism. At the end of the statement, the democratic situation in Georgia is assessed. The embassy writes that a country that was once “the beacon of democracy in the South Caucasus” is now drifting towards authoritarianism, one indicator of which is the restriction of media and journalists’ rights, as well as the impunity of those involved in violence against them. “It is sad to see how Georgia, once a beacon of democracy in the South Caucasus, is backsliding toward authoritarianism – laws to protect media freedom are being eroded, physical and online attacks against journalists persist with impunity and the use of courts and the legal system to harass journalists and media outlets is on the rise,” reads the statement from the Czech Embassy in Georgia.
The April 2 statement of the embassy does not specify which period of Georgia’s recent political past or who is meant by the “beacon of democracy.” It does not mention either the Georgian Dream, the United National Movement, or the former president, Mikheil Saakashvili. Therefore, POSTV’s dissemination of information that the embassy refers to the period from 2003 to 2012 as the “beacon of democracy” is manipulative.
The Myth Detector asked the Czech Embassy for additional comments regarding the statement. The written response confirms that by “beacon of democracy,” they did not refer exclusively to the period of the United National Movement governance and that the country has been seen as a leader in democracy in the South Caucasus since 1991, including the recent period. In response to the Myth Detector’s question, Jana Gasparikova, Deputy Head of the Czech Embassy’s Mission, highlighted the democratic progress Georgia made under the Georgian Dream administration. She also pointed out that the country continued its democratic development after 2012. The Czech Embassy’s response reads:
“[The statement] does not specify a period. The democratization process is a long-distance run, as we Czechs know well from our own modern history. Georgia has been going through the process of democratization already for more than three decades, starting with independence in 1991. There were ups and downs, but there were tangible results during these demanding processes – under GD rule, Georgia signed the Association Agreement with the EU, received a visa-free regime, and in December 2023, the process was crowned by EU Candidacy Statues awarded to Georgia. Georgia is still a beacon of democracy in the South Caucasus, but since 2024, it seems that the light is fading.”
POSTV has previously disseminated misleading information about ambassadors of Western countries. Last year, fake quotes attributed to the U.S. and EU ambassadors were posted on the media’s Facebook pages. In one case, POSTV wrote, “This is what an objective ambassador’s comment on violence by protesters should look like,” which misled users into perceiving the fake quote as a real statement. Both of these posts were fact-checked by the Myth Detector.
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