On October 7, the anti-opposition Facebook page “Natsebs ra?” and a Facebook user shared a social media card claiming that opposition politician Gubaz Sanikidze had addressed his son, Levan Sanikidze, a member of the opposition United National Movement (UNM), with the following words: “I’ve betrayed, sold out, eaten shit, but I’ve never fled, son.”
A fabricated quote is being circulated on Facebook with the aim of discrediting Levan and Gubaz Sanikidze. No such statement by Gubaz Sanikidze can be found in open sources. He denied the authenticity of the quote in a comment to Myth Detector.
No similar phrase by Gubaz Sanikidze appears in any open sources, and no media outlet has reported such a statement (1;2;3). Moreover, since the October 4 local elections, there have been no public comments by Gubaz Sanikidze in the media. In his conversation with Myth Detector, he denied the authenticity of the quote. The photo used in the social media card is an old one – it shows Sanikidze’s appearance on TV Pirveli on October 30, 2023.
The fabricated post began circulating after Levan Sanikidze publicly criticized TV Pirveli following its report on the arrest of UNM members Murtaz Zodelava and Irakli Nadiradze on the night of October 4. A journalist from the TV channel asked several UNM leaders, including Levan Sanikidze, where they were at the time of the arrest of Nadiradze and Zodelava. On the same day, Sanikidze responded on Facebook, addressing TV Pirveli and writing, “Even the Georgian Dream has not stooped to what you did today – accusing me of cowardice and fleeing. I have nothing to prove to you – many people witnessed where I was, how many times, and with whom.”
Therefore, the quote circulated under the name of Gubaz Sanikidze is fake and serves to discredit both him and his son, Levan Sanikidze.
Fabricated quotes attributed to Gubaz Sanikidze have circulated in the past as well. Read more in Myth Detector’s articles.
Archive link: 1
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.
