A man was detained after crashing into the courtyard of the Georgian Patriarchate, breaking through its boom barrier and gate. Some public figures aligned with the ruling Georgian Dream party have speculated that there was malicious intent behind the incident.
Initial reports about the incident in central Tbilisi were released on Thursday afternoon. Later, the Interior Ministry stated that one person had been detained in connection with the case, and an investigation was underway under the article concerning damage or destruction of someone else’s property.
No injuries were reported following the incident.
Some media outlets — including the pro-government TV Imedi and the opposition-leaning TV Pirveli — reported on their websites that ‘the driver was making insulting statements about the Church and the Patriarch’, with Imedi citing ‘eyewitnesses’ and TV Pirveli citing ‘circulated information’. However, neither outlet shared eyewitness statements containing such claims.
A staff member of the Patriarchate told the media that the collision was ‘very strong’. She described the driver as ‘mentally ill’, saying that after getting out of the car he was ‘throwing bottles’.
When asked whether he was insulting the staff, the woman said: ‘Everyone, everyone, he was insulting generally’.
Throughout the day, reports indicated that the passenger car was being driven by a man who had rented it from another individual. The son-in-law of the owner told TV Pirveli that the individual had rented the car about a month prior.
RFE/RL also managed to contact a person who said that the vehicle belongs to their parents and was being rented out through a website.
According to RFE/RL, their respondent cited the driver’s account, saying that ‘he felt unwell while driving and therefore crashed into the boom barrier and the gate’.
On Friday, pro-government media released surveillance camera footage showing a white cab first breaking through the boom barrier and gate, and then driving into the courtyard, where it also collided with another parked vehicle.
An incident occurred a little over a week after the enthronement of Patriarch Shio III, following his election by the bishops by a majority vote.
Although the police has not yet provided additional details about the incident — apart from the legal article under which the investigation is being conducted and the fact of the arrest — pro-government figures, who are frequently invited and quoted by state-affiliated TV channels, have begun speaking about the possible intentional nature of the crash. Their comments were promoted by the same TV channels.
Davit Chikhelidze, who is frequently cited by pro-government media as an ‘expert’, said that ‘the intrusion into the courtyard of the Patriarchate is not a simple incident or a random act’. He said it was ‘a direct and logical result’ of the ‘circulation of hatred against the Church and the Patriarch’, which, in his words, is being carried out by ‘certain political groups and their controlled media outlets’.
Davit Kartvelishvili, a member of People’s Power, a satellite party of Georgian Dream, further claimed that ‘by cursing the Mother Church and insulting Patriarch Shio, a local liberal-fascist drove a car into the courtyard of the Patriarchate’.
Another pro-government figure, Nino Phochkhua, insisted that the crash was ‘the result of the anti-Christian and anti-Church propaganda carried out by the destructive opposition and their controlled media on the orders of foreign patrons’.
The government and its affiliates often attack critics with accusations that they are hostile to the Church.
OC Media contacted both the Interior Ministry and the press office of the Patriarchate regarding the circumstances of the incident. The Ministry did not provide additional comment beyond confirming the arrest and the charges, while the Patriarchate had not responded at the time of publication.
