On October 24-25, pro-government media outlets, including Imedi (1, 2), Rustavi 2, and POSTV, as well as various news agencies (1, 2, 3, 4) and several Facebook accounts (1, 2), published a statement attributed to Levan Khabeishvili, the chair of the United National Movement’s Political Council. According to these media sources, the politician referred to “Georgian Dream” supporters as “grinning” and “drug addicts.” Specifically, they quoted him as saying: “I don’t want to insult anyone, but it’s written all over their faces, I don’t know how else to say it; it’s like they’re under the influence. From what I saw on television, none of these people were sober; they were likely under the influence of drugs.”
The video of Levan Khabeishvili allegedly using derogatory language about Georgian Dream voters was also disseminated by the anti-opposition page “Time for Truth.”
The quote has been circulated manipulatively. In reality, Khabeishvili’s words, “grinning” and “drug addicts,” were directed at specific individuals and not at Georgian Dream supporters in general. His comments were aimed at the attackers of opposition politician Levan Gogichashvili.
On October 24, Levan Khabeishvili was invited to the talk show Reaction on TV Pirveli, where he discussed the pre-election period, expectations around the elections, and his party’s plans in case of a change in government. He also reminded voters that the voting process is confidential and mentioned that their supporters have faced intimidation for years.
Early in the interview, Khabeishvili expressed solidarity with Levan Gogichashvili, a member of the For Georgia party, who had recently been attacked. It was in this context that he described Gogichashvili’s attackers as “grinning” and “drug addicts.” At no point did he refer to the ruling party’s supporters in this manner. In the interview, Khabeishvili stated: (21:35) “Levan Gogichashvili was assaulted yesterday, and I am deeply sorry about that. I addressed this on social media and want to express my solidarity. But we saw those grinning people, right? Now, I really don’t want to insult anyone, but it’s like it’s written on their faces—I don’t know how to put it—they’re under the influence. From what I saw on television, none of these people were sober; they were likely under the influence of drugs, from what I observed. This is a system propped up by a criminal, corrupt, rotten system under Bidzina Ivanishvili.”
On the evening of October 23, Giorgi Gakharia announced to the public that Levan Gogichashvili, a member of his party, had been attacked in the metro station. Pointing to individuals associated with the ruling Georgian Dream party, Gakharia noted, “A group of violent supporters organized by Georgian Dream attacked Levan Gogichashvili.”
False quotes or manipulative dissemination of public statements are common propaganda methods. Myth Detector has identified several such cases in the past.
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