Alt-Info Promotes Disinformation about Lekso Lashkarava’s Death
Verdict: FAKE NEWS
On 11 July 2021, TV Pirveli cameraman Lekso Lashkarava died. The causes of his death are still unknown. The Ministry of Internal Affairs launched an investigation under the article of incitement to suicide. A few days prior to his death, on 5 July 2021, Lekso Lashkarava was physically assaulted by a violent mob which was storming the Shame movement’s office. As a result, Mr Lashkarava received multiple injuries – he was diagnosed with a concussion and a broken jaw. He also underwent relevant surgery.
The far-right and pro-Russian Alt-Info platform, which was one of the principal masterminds behind the 5 July 2021 violent crackdown, devoted a special broadcast to this. The anchors of the show voiced their positions multiple times that there is a so-called “liberal force” behind Lekso Lashkarava’s death which aspires to manipulate public sentiments with this tragedy and organise a coup d’état. One of the hosts of the show, Shota Martinenko, said: “There is a huge suspicion that standard and deliberate steps were made to have this victim sacrificed and it is not improbable, it is likely, that they acted to have this person sacrificed and start hysteria on this ground.” Mr Martinenko also added that “there are no heavy bruises on his face, as he (Lekso Lashkarava) says himself, and these are not injuries of such a severity that may have caused a lethal outcome. And when a person dies in five days after getting these injuries, when he was comprehensively examined in the hospital, this causes a huge suspicion. There is a very little chance that this happened accidentally. There is a huge suspicion that a liberal system, the West, which is totally panicked, had to do something and they sacrificed and killed a sacral victim. There is a big chance of this.”
Another host of the show, Irakli Martinenko, also voiced similar claims. According to his statement: “(So-called ‘liberal forces’) probably killed this person. Now, it should become clear what really happened, but their reactions, how happy they are with all of these, is a clear illustration that they made a sacrifice and they will use the sacrifice for political purposes.”
At the same time, the TV show hosts also made allusions to the poisoning of Lekso Lashkarava. Shota Martinenko, speaking about mistrust expressed from one part of the public vis-à-vis the forensics, said: “Lekso Lashkarava was at the TV show yesterday and said he was feeling normal and then suddenly, straight away, a man dies in five days and when forensics is scheduled in response, they are getting hysterical and you know what Gvaramia starts to scream? Gvaramia screams that if forensics detects drug substances, that would not mean anything. He screams all of this and speaks about what happened in advance… We have to understand that it takes nothing to poison a person, to secretly put some substance, especially if you are part of that circle. It is possible that poisoning us would be hard for them because we have no contact with them. However, when you are in that circle, he trusts you and you are a part of his team and poisoning is not a huge problem.” Although the hosts reiterated several times in their 45-minute broadcast that their positions were evaluative and they did not possess any specific arguments, the main message of the show was to blame liberal forces for Lekso Lashkarava’s death. Despite such statements, the show’s hosts promoted conspiracy theories as facts and sought to mislead the viewers.
As mentioned earlier, the causes of Lekso Lashkarava’s death are currently unknown. At this moment, his corpse is undergoing forensics procedures. Therefore, Alt-Info’s claims that “liberal forces” killed Lekso Lashkarava and now seek to exploit this tragedy to cause mass unrest is a conspiracy theory.
To corroborate this conspiracy theory, TV show participants drew parallels with George Floyd’s case. George Floyd was killed by the police in the USA and his death sparked mass protests against racism. The show’s participants claimed that Mr Floyd died because of cardiac arrest and was not killed by the police officer. Of note is that cardiac arrest was caused precisely by the abuse of force and inhumane treatment from the police. In addition, a Minnesota court found four police officers guilty in George Floyd’s death in May 2021.
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