Georgia’s PM threatens severe penalties for participants in BBC probe
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has warned that individuals who appeared in a BBC report alleging the use of a banned chemical agent against protesters in Tbilisi will face “severe punishment,” calling the investigation an act of “hybrid violence” against the country, News.Az reports, citing Georgian media.
“Any individuals or groups for whom sufficient evidence is collected and whose deliberate actions have caused serious damage to Georgia’s national interests, international image and reputation, and whose actions were aimed at undermining the state, will be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” Kobakhidze said at a briefing on Saturday.
He accused those involved of seeking to “undermine Georgia’s stability and statehood” and of “fueling yet another confrontation in society with fabricated topics.”
On December 1, the BBC published an investigation suggesting that Georgian authorities may have used bromobenzyl cyanide (camite) — a toxic World War I–era chemical agent abandoned in the 1930s because of severe health risks — against protesters. Journalists reported that camite could have been added to the water cannon systems deployed during mass demonstrations in November and December 2024.
The investigation drew on interviews with individuals who said they were harmed by police actions, representatives of Georgian NGOs documenting alleged abuses, doctors monitoring protesters’ symptoms, former senior officers from the Interior Ministry’s special forces, and a review of procurement records.
Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) has launched a probe into possible abuse of power and “assistance to a foreign organization in hostile activity.”
The SSG said on Saturday that “the Georgian Interior Ministry has never purchased camite,” adding that no banned substances were used against demonstrators. The investigation will now continue only under the article related to “hostile activity.”
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