On November 14, the Facebook page “Conservative Flank” shared a photo with the caption, “They have already found the guy for an advertisement.” The image shows a store offering refrigerator sales and repair services, with a poster displaying the photo of Omar Okribelashvili, who was detained in 2023 for allegedly damaging barricades near the Parliament building. In the shot, he is seen leaving prison carrying a small refrigerator. The circulated image also includes the store’s address: “Batumi, Pushkin 29.”
A fabricated photo using an image of Omar Okribelashvili is being spread. In reality, the previously published Facebook photo of the store was digitally altered, and Okribelashvili’s image was added.
To determine whether the refrigerator repair, exchange, and sales service actually used Okribelashvili’s image for advertising, we searched for a similar photo. The Facebook page “Refrigerator Repair, Exchange, Used Refrigerators Batumi” published the identical photo on 8 February 2025. In the authentic image, instead of Okribelashvili’s shot, we see the text “Refrigerator repair and exchange” along with a phone number. This original image was used as the basis for creating and spreading the fabricated photo. The refrigerator repair page’s latest post dates back to 18 October.
On 14 November, Omar Okribelashvili and Saba Meparishvili were released after serving a 1.5-year sentence. They were detained in 2024; the Prosecutor’s Office accused them of jointly damaging the Parliament’s barricades. They pleaded guilty and reached a plea agreement. Upon leaving prison, Okribelashvili and Meparishvili took their personal belongings with them, including a small refrigerator and a TV set. The fabricated photo circulating online is a reaction to this fact.
Myth Detector has previously verified numerous posts aimed at discrediting civil activists and the ongoing protests, including several visual manipulations. Read more in the following materials:
- POSTV Spreads A Fabricated Photo About The Ongoing Protest
- AI-generated Video Circulates Regarding the Protest Rally “You Cannot Imprison Georgia”
- Edited Photo of the Phrase “Birds Don’t Forget How to Fly” from a Protest Circulates Online
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