On November 26, the “yellow level” of security came into effect in the building of the Parliament of Georgia, which fully restricts online media from working in the Parliament. The restriction is linked to the speech of the “Georgian Dream” Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze.
During the operation of the “yellow level” in Parliament, only journalists from TV broadcasters (no more than three groups from each broadcaster) and invited guests are allowed in the building.
The Parliament of Georgia approved the controversial restrictive rules for the media by Order N1/259/23 of September 4, 2023.
On October 25, the Speaker of Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, once again tried to discredit Netgazeti. In a post published on his social media account, Shalva Papuashvili referred to Netgazeti as “a propaganda media outlet supporting terrorists.”
Papuashvili attached to his post a screenshot of a Netgazeti article in which the outlet referred to Zviad Kvaratskhelia, who was detained during a pro-European rally, as a “prisoner of conscience.” It was precisely this term that angered the Speaker of Parliament from the Georgian Dream party. Critical media outlets, including Netgazeti, often use the term “prisoner of conscience” when reporting on those detained during pro-European demonstrations.
Shalva Papuashvili frequently attempts to discredit critical media outlets, including the online platform Netgazeti, through his social media posts.
On October 4, 2025, the day of the local self-government elections (which were boycotted by a large part of the pro-Western opposition and the public), the Chairman of the Georgian Dream Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, called some of the information disseminated by TV Pirveli from the polling stations “funny and curious” and referred to the TV company as “Khazaradze’s TV.”
“Today, all day long, Khazaradze’s TV, TV Pirveli, has been trying to stir up scandals, although I think they are making a mockery of themselves,” Shalva Papuashvili said at a special briefing. He then listed several TV Pirveli stories from the polling stations, which, in his opinion, were just funny. Among these materials were a table at a polling station and the alleged case of bribery. “I don’t know if Khazaradze is feeding his journalists now,” Papuashvili added, noting that there is nothing strange about someone taking care of feeding the election administration. After discussing the alleged bribery case, he said again: “Here, Khazaradze has sunk to such a level that not only did he violate journalistic ethics for all members of his television, but there are now funny curiosities in general” (timecode 5:52–8:16).
As a reminder, on October 4, a number of independent media outlets became targets of Shalva Papuashvili’s attacks for spreading information related to election violations. Among them were TOK2regions and Publika. More broadly, recently, Shalva Papuashvili’s attacks on the media and efforts to discredit them have become a worrying trend.
On October 4, 2025, the day of local elections (which were boycotted by a large part of the pro-Western opposition and the public), the Chairman of the Georgian Dream Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, referred to the independent publication Publica as a “foreign-funded, propaganda” media outlet and accused it of a coordinated campaign of disinformation.
Shalva Papuashvili attacked Publica for its coverage of an attack on an opposition activist. (The day before the election, Igor Narmania, a young member of the United National Movement, was attacked and physically injured by several people in Tbilisi.) “Publica”, a foreign-funded propaganda media that spreads false information about Igor Narmania” (timecode: 3:55 – 4:37) – With this text, Shalva Papuashvili lists “Publica” among those actors who “act in a coordinated manner and spread disinformation, thereby interfering in the Georgian elections”.
Publica assessed Shalva Papuashvili’s next attack against them as incitement to hatred and violence. “We have already responded to Shalva Papuashvili’s attack once and we remind you again: “Publica” covers the current events in the country, including protest rallies, announcements, etc., within the framework of its journalistic activities. Shalva Papuashvili is trying to put pressure on our editorial independence, “Incites hatred and violence against us. If anything happens to any of our journalists, Papuashvili will be responsible,” – the editor of the publication Lika Zakashvili responded to Shalva Papuashvili with this post.
Recently, “Publica” has repeatedly become the target of Shalva Papuashvili’s attacks. For example, on May 19, 2025, Papuashvili attacked “Publica” for spreading information about MP Mariam Lashkh. Earlier, on February 1, he accused it of inciting to commit a criminal offense for spreading information about the rally.
On October 4, 2025, the day of local elections (which were boycotted by much of the pro-Western opposition and the public), Georgian Dream Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili accused the independent studio TOK2region of spreading disinformation and referred to it as “partisan media.” Papuashvili’s statement followed a video released by TOK2region from the 4th polling station in Akhaltsikhe, showing two voters in a single polling booth.
The Georgian Dream parliamentary speaker claimed that one of the voters actually needed assistance from the other due to vision problems. “Akhaltsikhe, precinct 4, where disinformation was also spread by partisan media claiming that voting control had taken place. In fact, the case concerned a voter with impaired vision, who asked for help and was assisted while filling out the ballot,” said Papuashvili, with TOK2region footage in the background labeled FAKE [timecode: 1:11–1:41].
Following Papuashvili’s statement, TOK2region released the full video footage, which shows that the voter did not ask for help. On the contrary, after the precinct commission chairman noticed that the media was recording the incident, he issued a warning to the voters. “The accusations that Shalva Papuashvili himself is spreading about our media—calling the independent editorial office ‘party media’ and accusing it of distributing content that TOK2region never published—are, in our view, yet another attack on our outlet,” TOK2region said in a statement.
Shalva Papuashvili’s attacks on independent media and efforts to discredit them have long been a persistent trend. The CMIS incident archive contains more than 10 documented cases of media attacks by the Chairman of the Georgian Dream Parliament. Independent and critical media were also a particular target of Papuashvili on October 4.
On September 22, 2025, Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of Parliament from Georgian Dream, referred to the independent online outlet Netgazeti as propaganda media.
Shalva Papuashvili shared the statement against Netgazeti on his social media page. In his post, Papuashvili attached a screenshot of a Netgazeti article in which Mikheil Kavelashvili was referred to as “Georgian Dream’s president.”
“There is no test that would show that media covering news in this manner is not propaganda. There is no test that would show that whoever pays them is not financing propaganda…” Papuashvili wrote.
Recently, Shalva Papuashvili has often attacked Netgazeti with similar posts. He made a similar statement against Netgazeti on September 9. In the archive of the Center for Media, Information, and Social Studies, his verbal attacks can also be found against the outlets Publika, On.ge, and Tabula, as well as against Gela Mtivlishvili, editor of the outlet Mtis Ambebi. Papuashvili also tried to discredit Netgazeti/Batumelebi’s imprisoned manager, Mzia Amaghlobeli, referring to her as an “inciter of violence.”
On September 9, 2025, Georgian Dream parliamentary chair, Shalva Papuashvili, called the independent online publication Netgazeti.ge “a platform for inciting violence, a propaganda platform, and a violent media outlet.”
His statement followed Netgazeti’s reporting on a protest rally announced for September 9 by Kakha Kaladze, Georgian Dream’s Tbilisi mayoral candidate. In the same post, Papuashvili employed anti-Western rhetoric and attacked donor organizations.
“Netgazeti, funded by Brussels, not only provides propaganda for violence, but also organizes a violent attack on the election headquarters of Georgian Dream. We have seen biased, partisan, yellow, all kinds of media, but ‘violent media’ is a new phenomenon that, like Rwanda’s ‘Radio of a Thousand Hills,’ is a product of foreign donors,” wrote the parliamentary chairman.
This is not the first time Papuashvili has targeted independent online media as propagandist outlets. The archive of the Center for Media, Information and Social Studies records his verbal attacks on Publika, On.ge, and Tabula, as well as on Gela Mtivlishvili, editor of Mtis Ambebi. Papuashvili has also attempted to discredit the imprisoned manager of Netgazeti/Batumelebi, Mzia Amaglobeli, referring to them as an “inciter of violence.”
On June 20, 2025, Georgian Dream Parliamentary Chairman Shalva Papuashvili attempted to discredit the pre-detained manager of the online publications Netgazeti and Batumelebi, Mzia Amaglobeli, with a post on social media: “Solidarity to violence is incitement to further violence.”
Papuashvili’s statement followed a post shared by the European Union Delegation, in which the delegation expressed solidarity with the publication Batumelebi and Mzia Amaglobeli and called on Georgian Dream to “stop the systematic attack on democratic institutions and fundamental rights.” The EU delegation’s post is accompanied by a photo featuring the EU ambassador and the editor of Batumelebi
On February 1, Shalva Papuashvili, leader of the Georgian Dream party, accused the online publication Publika of announcing the commission of a criminal offense.
Papuashvili made this statement in response to a Facebook post published by Publika about a protest planned for February 2 near Tbilisi Mall. The protest is being held with demands for the immediate release of political prisoners and new elections.
The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics responded to the ruling party leader’s accusation against the media: “The repressive policy of Georgian Dream towards independent media reached a new level on February 1 when Shalva Papuashvili manipulatively linked the media’s professional duty to the hastily adopted amendment restricting the right to assembly (Government Decree #361, passed on January 31) and started talking about criminal liability,”the statement reads.
The Media Advocacy Coalition also expressed support for Publika: “Georgian Dream is particularly attacking independent outlets that uphold high professional standards in the Georgian media landscape. We stand with Publika!” the statement says.
