Grigol Gegelia: The attack was clearly politically motivated, and I was struck several times in the head – the perpetrator has been identified

According to Grigol Gegelia, the Foreign Secretary of “For a Strong Georgia,” one person attacked him, and that person has already been identified by law enforcement.

Speaking with InterpressNews, Gegelia said the attacker physically assaulted him in the head area. He explained that the attack was politically motivated.

“I am currently at the police station being questioned. This person has been identified. Of course, I will use all legal measures against him. The ‘titushki’ (thugs) should understand that they won’t get away with such violence in this country. This country won’t accept it. We are not that kind of people, and we don’t have that kind of culture where people hit each other in the head on the street. It is neither Georgian, nor decent, nor legal, nor manly.

Near my house, in the yard, I was giving an interview to the ‘TV Pirveli’ crew. Apparently, this person was already waiting there. While I was walking up the slope, a car approached me slowly. The driver already had a video camera turned on and was recording. The conversation started with political topics. At first, he verbally insulted me from the car and tried in every possible way to escalate the situation. Then he got out of the car and rushed toward me, delivering several blows to my head. He then left the area in his own car,” Gegelia said.

He also explained that the Ministry of Internal Affairs responded promptly to the incident.

“The response was definitely timely. An ambulance arrived very quickly, and soon after, three police officers arrived. The reaction was appropriate and completely prompt. I helped identify the perpetrator using the car’s license plate number. I had an initial medical examination and will need further, more in-depth evaluation because I was hit in the head several times.

This was clearly politically motivated. From the beginning, he asked me: ‘Aren’t you a politician?’ Often, people have questions, and that’s what we are here for—to answer them. So, he approached me specifically as a politician and confronted me with purely political topics,” Gegelia said.