NGO treats pressure on female activists in Georgia as customary

Threats, intimidation in social networks, publication of intimate life facts of the women engaged in Georgian politics have become a norm, says the report of the non-governmental organization (NGO) "International Transparency-Georgia".

Thus, in 2016, they blackmailed four female public figures demanding from them to stop their political life; and videos of their intimate life were made public. The persons, who circulated one of the videos, stated that Tinatin Khidasheli, a former Defence Minister, was featured in it; however, she refuted the information.

In November 2018, during the election campaign, Salome Zurabishvili, the Georgian President, received SMS messages with threats addressed to her and her children.

In 2018, the Public Defender, Nino Lomdjaria, was threatened with a "sniper shot in her forehead." In 2019, a video of the intimate life of the MP, Ekaterina Beseliya, was distributed.

The practice of aggressive actions against female activists was introduced by the authorities under President Mikhail Saakashvili, said Lali Moroshkina, a PR technologist.

According to Natalia Khokhiashvili, an activist of the NGO "New Generation for Democratic Georgia", Georgian men dislike successful and independent women.

Giorgi Nizharadze, a psychologist, agrees that persecution of female activists is often due caused by the fact that some men find it unacceptable for women to participate in politics.