Ivanishvili critic assaulted in Tbilisi after billionaire threatens his For Georgia party

A prominent member of the For Georgia opposition party has reported that he was assaulted in the Tbilisi Metro on Wednesday evening. 

Levan Gogichaishvili claimed that he was attacked by a group of up to 20 individuals who were ‘Bidzina Ivanishvili’s thugs’, speculating that they were rally goers returning from Georgian Dream’s last large campaign event in downtown Tbilisi that evening. He described them as visibly intoxicated and holding Georgian Dream flags.

Commenting on the incident, For Georgia swiftly compared Ivanishvili and his ruling Georgian Dream party to the United National Movement (UNM), the party they frequently boast about ousting from power 12 years ago, in part for using violence against their critics.

‘It is unfortunate that Levan Gogichaishvili has fallen victim to an attack by Georgian Dream, using the very same methods that United National Movement once used against them. This is the behaviour of a defeated party, and it will not intimidate us’, claimed Natia Mezvrishivli, deputy chair of the party. 

Just hours before the incident on Wednesday evening, Gogichaishvili appeared on the opposition-leaning TV channel Pirveli, where he ridiculed Ivanishvili for his latest ‘cringe’ interview. He claimed the interview was filled both with threats against his party and ‘madness’ such as Ivanishvili’s musings on men’s milk.

[Read more: Ivanishvili rails against ‘men’s milk’ and the West and vows to punish ‘scumbag’ political rivals] 

The Interior Ministry has reportedly launched an investigation into the attack on Gogichaishvili on the basis of group violence.

Critics have repeatedly faulted investigative authorities for failing to provide updates on the progress of investigations into a series of attacks on government opponents that took place during the spring and summer of this year, including cases where the perpetrators were expected to be easily identified due to available footage.

The incident involving Gogichaishvili occurred just two days after Ivanishvili, Georgian Dream’s honorary chair, claimed that voting for For Georgia, along with another opposition group, Strong Georgia, posed a greater danger to the country than supporting the UNM and its allies. In a rare display of public anger during his interview with the pro-government TV channel Imedi, Ivanishvili stated that For Georgia party members deserved ‘strong punishment’ for abandoning his party while also calling their leader Gakharia a ‘scumbag’.

Yesterday’s attack on @ForGeorgia25 leader Levan Gogichaishvili is a direct consequence of Ivanishvili’s threat against me & my party members. It clearly demonstrates that pre-election environment is neither peaceful, nor competitive. Responsibility on violence, as well as any…

— Giorgi Gakharia (@GakhariaGiorgi) October 24, 2024

The upper ranks of For Georgia include numerous former members and lawmakers from Georgian Dream, including long-time UNM critic Gogichaishvili and party chair Giorgi Gakharia. Gogichaishvili was among those who deprived Georgian Dream of its constitutional majority in 2019, when he and others left the party over what they saw as Ivanishvili’s collusion with the UNM-era judiciary. 

Since its inception in early 2021, and especially in the lead-up to the upcoming parliamentary elections this weekend, For Georgia has strongly focused on efforts to attract the ruling party’s base, including public employees and die-hard UNM critics. 

Ivanishvili’s recent harsh criticism of For Georgia and Strong Georgia marks the culmination of Georgian Dream’s rhetoric, which has expanded the concept of the ‘collective National Movement’ or ‘radical opposition’ to include these groups. Recently, Georgian Dream has made it one of their central election promises to prosecute or ban the ‘radical opposition’ and their supporters if they secure a constitutional majority in the 26 October elections.