Editing The cameraman of TV Pirveli, who was beaten by the orcs on July 5, was found dead

Article written on Georgian news website Tabula.ge, which informs us of the death of Aleksandre Lashkarava – a cameraman who was working for the Georgian TV station called TV Pirveli.

The article says that the camera operator was found dead by her mother in his bed after he was attacked by violent anti-LGBTQ protesters.

On the 5th of July Lekso (Aleksandre) was filming a protest against an LGBTQ Pride march in Tbilisi, where he got fractures to his facial bones. A young journalist, the tv reporter Miranda Bagaturia, who was working with Lekso that day, also became a victim of the group. The article actually reports the witness of Miranda after the attack. She said that Lekso was injured because he was protecting her from the abusive group.

She says: ,,I got the first kick. Then the clergyman pulled my hair from behind and told me that now I can finally keep quiet. At this point my cameraman, Lekso, said a phrase like this: ‘’What are you doing, she is a journalist’’. After this, about 20 men dragged him for a beating.’’

Miranda talks about the fact that police were not there for help. ,, My cameraman and I were very vulnerable’’ – She recalls very emotional facts, how she could not help his colleague while 20 people were beating him. 

The last paragraph of the article informs us that on July 8, the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested only two people who have been sentenced to imprisonment as a preventive measure.

This article says nothing about what caused such aggression toward journalists, although everybody agree that violence has no justification. It is clear from Miranda's remarks that the government has done nothing to protect the journalists.

On the 5th of July during the government session, the Prime minister said that he was against holding the Tbilisi Pride. He said: ,,This action contains the threat of civil strife’’. He also added that Tbilisi Pride was unacceptable to the majority of the population of Georgia. This led public opinion to assume that the government knew in advance about the plan of the violent group but did not bring enough police officers to the location.