On March 18, a quote attributed to Giuli Alasania, the mother of Georgia’s third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, was shared in the Facebook group “Anti-Maidan! The Voice of the Nation!” The quote reads, “Shameless Zourabichvili – wherever I see her, I will beat her. Let her go and sue me.”
The quote, which suggests that Giuli Alasania threatened to physically assault Salome Zourabichvili, is fake. After Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced to prison, members of the United National Movement discussed Zourabichvili’s responsibility in the case. However, Alasania did not comment on the matter, and no such statement from her can be found in open sources.
On March 17, another court hearing for Mikheil Saakashvili took place, where the judge ruled on his 2021 illegal border crossing case. At the final session, Judge Mikheil Jinjolia announced that the defendant was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in prison. Specifically, for the illegal border crossing case, Saakashvili was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months. However, the judge exercised discretionary power and partially combined the sentences. In doing so, he followed Paragraph 3 of Article 59 of the Criminal Code, which states that in the case of a repeated crime, “the sentences provided for these crimes shall be added up in part or in full” when imposing a final sentence. A few days earlier, Saakashvili had been sentenced to 9 years in prison for embezzling state funds.
Following the announcement of the verdict, Saakashvili’s lawyer, members of the United National Movement, and his mother spoke to the media. According to the chair of the political party, Tina Bokuchava, Salome Zourabichvili also bears responsibility for Saakashvili’s sentence, as she did not grant him a presidential pardon during her term.
After the court session, Giuli Alasania also spoke about yet another guilty verdict against her son. She talked about his past political activities, his return to Georgia, and the years he has spent in prison.
“He is a person who has done extraordinary things for Georgia, for his beloved country, and this is what he received in return – he is being punished for it. What could possibly surprise me anymore after Mikheil Saakashvili has been imprisoned, poisoned, and nearly killed? I don’t know what else could be unexpected for me.
“I feel sad that my son did not consider the examples of David the Builder, Ilia Chavchavadze, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, or Kostava, but came back and surrendered himself to the executioners.
“We are dealing with a person who has done so much for Georgia, more than anyone else ever has, and that is exactly why he is being punished. What surprises me is that even after everything, part of society still does not understand that Saakashvili is Ivanishvili’s main target. On one hand, we have a person who has done everything for this country, and on the other, a country that has done this to him.”
Unlike Tina Bokuchava, Alasania did not speak about Salome Zourabichvili’s responsibility. The quote circulating on social media cannot be found in open sources, online media, or television websites (1;2;3). Alasania has not written about this on her Facebook page either. Therefore, the quote is fake.
The campaign to discredit Giuli Alasania intensified after Mikheil Saakashvili returned to Georgia from Ukraine and was imprisoned. Fake quotes and visual manipulations about her have been repeatedly spread. Myth Detector systematically verifies such claims.
Facebook groups created under the “Anti-Maidan” label frequently spread anti-Western content and posts aimed at discrediting opponents of the Georgian Dream party. On December 1 and 2, Myth Detector investigated the origins of a similarly named group and identified its administrators.
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
