“The campaign related to Gareja, and other campaigns they are conducting through dark media, can only be assessed as anti-state actions, to which an appropriate response should follow,” Kobakhidze told journalists on the sidelines of the International Space Summit in Paris, News Georgia reports.
The prime minister did not identify those he believes are behind the campaign, saying he had no specific evidence. However, he said the political element of the issue was clear.
“Who subsequently gave this organised campaign a political dimension and who used it for political speculation — we all saw this very clearly,” Kobakhidze said.
“Overall, this campaign concerns such a sensitive issue that it could well have legal consequences. However, all this should be decided by the relevant bodies and agencies,” he added.
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According to News Georgia, Kobakhidze’s remarks come amid an increasingly bitter confrontation involving his predecessor, Irakli Garibashvili, who is serving a prison sentence for a corruption offence.
Garibashvili has questioned the official account of the death of human rights activist Lazare Jorbenadze, who made sensational allegations against Kobakhidze shortly before his death.
In an interview with the Asaval-Dasavali tabloid, Jorbenadze claimed that he had personally seen a secret document according to which Kobakhidze signed an agreement with Azerbaijan in 2025 to transfer part of the David Gareja territory to Baku.
No evidence confirming the existence of such a document has been publicly presented.
Georgia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has stressed that Jorbenadze’s death has been confirmed as suicide based on statements from his family members and wife.
At the prosecutor’s request, investigators questioned Garibashvili, as well as a number of opposition figures, journalists and experts who had commented on the circumstances surrounding Jorbenadze’s death.
