On July 8, 2025, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the “Georgian Dream” government attempted to discredit independent broadcasters “TV Pirveli” and “Formula.” He made a comment to the media about the alleged suicide attempt of former Chairman of the Adjara Government, Tornike Rizhvadze, according to the official version of the investigation. According to his statement, he “generally” linked the incident to opposition television stations and accused critical television stations of “defamation” and “sowing hatred.”

When asked who, according to his information, was accusing Tornike Rizhvadze of “corruption” and “patronage of drug dealers” – as written in the circulated letter – Kobakhidze said: “I don’t know, there were specific television stations that were doing this. In general, the life of a person involved in politics is stressful. Including when they no longer hold a position. Countless lies are spread, there is countless insult, countless defamation. I can name specific television stations… for example, ‘TV Pirveli’, ‘Formula’” – Irakli Kobakhidze declared.

Later, however, he denied the statement and noted that “No, I didn’t say this. I didn’t say this, of course. I gave one example. The rest should be determined by the investigation” – Kobakhidze said.