On July 8, 2025, the Prime Minister of the Georgian Dream government, Irakli Kobakhidze, attempted to discredit independent broadcasters “TV Pirveli” and “Formula.” He made comments to the media regarding the alleged suicide attempt of former Chairman of the Adjara Government, Tornike Rijvadze, according to the official investigation. In his statement, he “generally” linked the incident to oppositional television channels and accused critical TV stations of “slander” and “spreading hatred.”

When asked who, according to him, accused Tornike Rijvadze of “corruption” and “protecting profiteers”, Kobakhidze, as reported in the circulated letter, said:

“I don’t know, there were specific television channels doing this. Generally, the life of a person involved in politics is stressful, even when they no longer hold office. Many lies are spread, there is a lot of insult, a lot of slander. I can name specific TV channels… for example, ‘TV Pirveli’, ‘Formula’.”

Later, he denied the statement, saying:

“No, I didn’t say this. Of course, I didn’t say this. I just gave one example. The rest should be determined by the investigation.”