Officials from one of Georgia's main opposition groups have demanded a hotel in the Black Sea coastal city of Batumi release security footage that shows the party's leader being beaten in the hotel's lobby by members of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Berdia Sichinava, a senior member of the For Georgia party, said on January 16 that the Sheraton Hotel, where former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia was beaten, should make security footage public after government-aligned media broadcast edited video he says alters the real events of a day earlier.
The ruling Georgian Dream party is "trying to portray the attackers as victims and victims in society through propaganda tools," he said.
Gakharia said on Facebook that he was "doing OK" after the attack and thanked supporters. His health was stable after sustaining injuries to his face and head.
For Georgia officials told a press conference in Tbilisi that the ex-premier was attacked on the morning of January 15 while alone in the hotel lobby, and not the other way around as video shown on the pro-government Imedi television claims.
"The risks regarding the possible destruction of video evidence are increasing every minute, especially in conditions where the [current] prime minister and other officials are already openly and publicly dictating to the judiciary what direction and version they should take," Sichinava said.
"Therefore, we are officially requesting the Sheraton Hotel to provide us with the video footage of the attack on Giorgi Gakharia," he added.
Sichinava has accused billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia's most powerful man and the founder of Georgian Dream, of "orchestrating" the attack.
Georgian Dream has in turn accused Gakharia of touching off the incident by throwing a drink at Georgian Dream parliamentary deputy Dimitri Samkharadze.
"Let's establish who attacked whom. There was a verbal argument, and there is footage of Gakharia hitting Dimitri Samkharadze in the face with a glass," said Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leader of the Georgian Dream parliamentary faction.
“The physical violence was initially on [Gakharia’s] part. Now the only thing that needs to be investigated is whether it was politically motivated or not,” he said.
He said Samkharadze was completely justified in his response and noted that Gakharia could face charges for assaulting a state political official.
The Georgian Interior Ministry said it was investigating, but no charges have been filed.
Gakharia was diagnosed with a broken nose and a concussion. Samkharadze has not reported any health consequences as result of the incident.
The Sheraton Hotel, where the incident occurred, has said it would hand over all video recordings to the investigation, though it was unclear when it would do so.
Only one short video has been made public so far, and the hotel said it was not from its cameras.
The unverified video, which has been broadcast by Imedi, shows Gakharia throwing a plastic cup and then being beaten.
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Georgians have been protesting the country's October parliamentary elections, which the opposition says were stolen by Georgian Dream. Georgian Dream denies any wrongdoing.
The protests escalated in November when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Georgia would suspend European Union accession talks until 2028.
The pro-EU protests have been met with a crackdown by police, with rights groups pointing to hundreds of arrests and beatings.
On January 15,the British and U.S. embassies in Tbilisi condemned what they said was a resurgence in violence against opposition leaders, journalists, and protesters.
Such actions "appear intended to intimidate Georgians from exercising their fundamental freedoms, do nothing to return Georgia to the Euro-Atlantic path the majority of Georgians want. Georgia deserves better," the U.S. Embassy said without referring directly to the attack on Gakharia.
British Ambassador Gareth Ward called the situation "deeply disturbing."
Protesters on January 15 staged a wide-ranging strike to demand new elections by temporarily leaving their workplaces.