On February 19, a quote attributed to the Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream party, Mamuka Mdinaradze, regarding emigrants was spread on Facebook (1;2;3;4;5). The informational card, which features the logo of the TV channel Mtavari Arkhi, reads, “We demand the deportation of emigrants who verbally insult the government from abroad so that they serve a 60-day sentence in a Georgian prison.”
A fabricated quote attributed to Mamuka Mdinaradze about emigrants is being circulated using the Mtavari Arkhi logo. No official sources confirm that Mdinaradze has made such a statement. The quote has not been covered by Mtavari Arkhi.
Information about such an initiative has not been reported on online media or television websites (1;2;3). Moreover, Mdinaradze’s statement has not been published on his or the Georgian Dream party’s Facebook page (1;2).
The information card featuring the fabricated quote includes Mtavari Arkhi’s logo, but it cannot be found on the media outlet’s Facebook page. Notably, the font used in the fabricated version differs from the style the media actually uses. For instance, Mtavari Arkhi did use Mdinaradze’s same photo in an information card on February 3, but it was related to an initiative to qualify insults against public officials and civil servants as an offense.
The fabricated information card began circulating after the Georgian Dream party decided to introduce changes to the Administrative Offenses and Criminal Codes. The ruling party drafted amendments to the Administrative Offenses Code, according to which insults against officials, police officers, and civil servants will be punishable by fines ranging from GEL 1,500 to 4,000 or administrative imprisonment for up to 45 days. The Georgian Dream also plans to add an article on “treason” to the Criminal Code.
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