The Marika Mari Facebook account has disseminated publications in the Victorious Irakli Gharibashvili 41 Facebook public group smearing Irakli Zarkua and Irakli Gharibashvili within the context of the Shovi tragedy (1,2,3).
The aforementioned Facebook account has disseminated footage of Irakli Zarkua, MP, with the following caption:“People have drowned in the landslide, there are still dozens of people buried and being searched for. Meanwhile, Irakli Zarkua and other members of the Georgian Dream have gone to the mountains and do not deny themselves pleasure of partying and fishing. People are drowning and they are singing.”
In fact, the aforementioned footage was posted on Facebook prior to the Shovi events; in particular, on 23 July 2023 by Radio Tbilisi. At the same time, Irakli Zarkua’s footage was also disseminated on TikTok in addition to Facebook.
The same Facebook account also disseminated disinformation in regard to the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Claim 1:Irakli Gharibashvili ran from Oni without visiting the disaster area or meeting with those affected by the tragedy. He sneaked away like a rabbit.
In fact, on 4 August 2023, Irakli Gharibashvili visited the disaster area together with the Speaker of the Parliament and other MPs and personally monitored the disaster mitigation work.
Claim 2: People are dying during disasters and this is a natural occurrence, may God bless their souls – said IraPrick visiting Oni.
In fact, the Prime Minister made the following statement with journalists about the Shovi tragedy: “These types of cataclysms, such tragedies and disasters happen in every country. All talks that it could have been possible to avoid this, I believe are extremely unserious.”(…) I would like to ask you all, in these very difficult times, to stand together and pray for their families.”
Of note is that the aforementioned Facebook account actively disseminates publications to target other members of the Parliamentary Majority (see FactCheck’s article) dating to the beginning of the Shovi tragedy.
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