DRI: It's been a year since the July 5 violence and the organizers of the violence have not been punished - sometimes the messages of the far-right, pro-Russian groups and the government overlap
The Democracy Research Institute (DRI) presented the interim findings of its study of far-right groups and their activities.
The report is presented in three parts: media monitoring of far-right groups, rallies of homophobic groups, and judicial monitoring of the July 5 violent events.
As the director of the institute, Tamar Khidasheli, said, despite the fact that 1 year has passed since the violent July 5 events, the perpetrators have not yet been punished and the activities of ultra-right, pro-Russian groups have intensified.
According to her, as a result of the study, it was revealed that in some cases the messages of the ultra-right, pro-Russian groups and the government coincide with each other.
"We are monitoring the activity of far-right pro-Russian groups on social media and we are also monitoring their rallies, we have also been monitoring the ongoing court proceedings related to the violence that occurred on July 5, 2021. As a result of this monitoring, it became clear that a year has passed since the violence and the organizers of the violence have not been punished, despite that it has been proven in the trials that there is evidence that the violence was indeed organized. Instead of taking proper procedures against these groups, they have strengthened, transformed into a political party, opened regional offices and managed to mobilize financial resources.
Regarding the observation of social media, I would like to highlight the fact that unfortunately, in some cases, the messages of the far-right, pro-Russian groups and the government overlap. This is especially noticeable when far-right groups talk about the opening of a second front in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war, we have also heard the same from government officials. It is a pity that their messages coincide with each other," said Tamar Khidasheli.
