“How could we oppose the construction of a church? There has never been a case where the construction of a church in Tbilisi began without coordination with City Hall — the Patriarchate always informs us,” said the Mayor of Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, responding to information circulated online claiming that “Tbilisi City Hall bulldozed a church under construction in the Africa settlement.”

As Kaladze stated in a video address posted on his social media, the information is false and is disinformation.

“I have spoken many times about how harmful the spread of false information is for society. Fake news has become a major global problem, not just for Georgia but for the entire world. Numerous international studies have examined this topic. Just yesterday a journalist asked me a question about such a study, and I shared my position on the issue. Yet on the same day, one of the TV channels — specifically TV Pirveli — presented another fake news story to viewers, claiming that we demolished a church supposedly under construction for 14 years. Tbilisi City Hall issued a statement on the matter, including photographic evidence of the so-called church, but TV Pirveli decided not to broadcast the City Hall statement,” Kaladze said.

According to him, the Patriarchate always informs Tbilisi City Hall whenever church construction is planned in the capital.

“I once again declare with full responsibility that the information being circulated is a lie and disinformation. Now I will show you the photo material. This unfinished, small structure — which a certain TV company claimed had been under construction for 14 years — was demolished because both the territory and the construction were completely illegal. The individual who violated the law was warned several months ago by the municipal inspection to remove the structure, but this instruction was ignored, so our relevant service acted accordingly.

How could we oppose the construction of a church? There has never been a case where church construction in Tbilisi began without agreement with City Hall. The Patriarchate always keeps us informed. If a church is truly necessary for that specific settlement, we will do everything possible to support approval and implementation of the project. However, this structure — which appeared only a few months ago — has no connection whatsoever to the Church,” Kaladze added.

According to the Mayor, the Tbilisi Municipal Inspection will continue acting within the law in similar cases in the future.

“We believe the public will have no difficulty understanding what we are dealing with here. Media outlets that respect their viewers should not attempt to mislead them and should not spread fake news. The Tbilisi Municipal Inspection will continue permanent monitoring to detect law violations and will take effective measures to protect state interests within the scope of its authority,” stated Kakha Kaladze.