Prepared by Messenger Staff
Khoshtaria Warns Georgia Could Be Drawn Into Russia's War
Elene Khoshtaria, a leader of Georgia's Coalition for Change who is serving a prison sentence, said the actions of the ruling Georgian Dream party could put Georgia at risk of being drawn into Russia's war against Ukraine.
She warned that Georgia could become a target for Ukrainian strikes if it is seen as supporting Russia and called on the European Union to investigate the Georgian government's actions.
"The actions and lies of Georgian Dream put Georgia at risk of being openly dragged into Russia's war on Russia's side," Khoshtaria said in a statement published on Facebook.
She said the EU should act to prevent Georgia from being treated as a participant in Russia's war and to ensure any sanctions target the government rather than Georgia as a whole.
Khoshtaria also accused the government of acting in Russia's interests and said failure to intervene could leave Georgia responsible for supporting Russia's "aggressive and terrorist war."
Biblus Investigates Vandalism of Books Including Bughadze Novel
Georgian bookstore chain Biblus is investigating an act of vandalism at its Gldani branch in which several books were damaged, including Lasha Bughadze's The Observer, a novel that was recently barred from being delivered to a prisoner because authorities reportedly considered it "political."
Biblus confirmed the damage on Monday and said the affected books had been removed from sale.
"At this stage, we are investigating the circumstances of the incident and verifying relevant information. The damaged books have, of course, been removed from sale," the company said.
The incident occurred less than a week after Radio Liberty reported that a copy of The Observer intended for Nana Sander-a defendant in the October 4 case-was withheld at Rustavi Prison. Authorities reportedly stated that the book was political and could not be given to a prisoner.
Bughadze said at the time that he feared the restrictions could extend to bookstores.
"When my Observer was not sent ... for political reasons ... I wrote that the next stage would be bookstores," he wrote on Facebook.
He said the incident showed that censorship was becoming a broader problem in Georgia and compared it with censorship in Russia.
"This is not just my problem or my book's problem; the censor will come for every word sooner or later," Bughadze wrote.
Biblus said it was still investigating who damaged the books and had not identified those responsible.
