Alexander Lashkarava ( file photo )

Georgian cameraman dies after being brutally assaulted by far-right, anti-LGBTQ activists

"Journalists and TV crews should be regarded with respect for risking their lives just to update us with relevant news and current affairs, and should not be the subjects of displacements and bigotry."

By Edward Era Barbacena

There has been an alarming increase in number of cases of journalists and TV crews being heavily assaulted United States and European countries in relation to mass protests coverage, one have  resulted to an in vain death.

A Georgian TV cameraman has died after being badly beaten by far-right assailants during a protest against an LGBTQ Pride march, his station said on Sunday, as pressure mounts on authorities over attacks on journalists.

Alexander Lashkarava, a 37-year-old cameraman working for the independent station TV Pirveli, was found dead in his bed in the early hours on Sunday, the channel reported.

Last Monday he was assaulted by a violent mob of anti-LGBTQ protesters and sustained fractures to his facial bones.

LGBTQ pride march 

More than 50 journalists were attacked that day by anti-LGBTQ groups protesting against the planned Pride march in Tbilisi, which was cancelled due to safety fears.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the attacks, saying journalists “sustained injuries that included concussion, chemical burns and broken arms”.

It accused authorities of “culpable passivity” and said police had failed to protect journalists.

Georgia’s interior ministry said in a brief statement on Sunday that an investigation had been opened into Lashkarava’s death.

Rights activists announced a protest rally later on Sunday to demand the resignation of the prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili.

Prominent Georgian TV personalities and managers have accused Garibashvili’s government of orchestrating a violent campaign against journalists.

“The government not only encourages violence against journalists, it is part of the violence,” Nodar Meladze, TV Pirveli’s news editor, told AFP.

“The government has set up violent groups to attack independent media,” he said, adding: “Riot police have also repeatedly targeted journalists.”

In June 2019, riot police injured 40 journalists covering an anti-government protest.

Garibashvili has faced strong criticism from the opposition and rights activists after he spoke out against holding the Pride march, describing it as “unacceptable for a large segment of Georgian society”.

Critics have accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of tacitly supporting homophobic and nationalist groups, which have also staged protests against pro-western opposition parties.

Police launched an investigation into Lashkarava's death, which Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and President Salome Zurabishvili both described as "a tragedy."

Animosity against sexual minorities is strong in the conservative Black Sea nation of Georgia.

The Tbilisi Pride group said Monday that opponents of the planned march were supported by the government and by the Georgian Orthodox Church. The Open Caucasus Media group published a photo of a man it said was a local TV journalist being pulled away from the scene in a headlock by an Orthodox priest.

Zurabishvili condemned the violence, but Garibashvili alleged the march was organized by “radical opposition” forces that he claimed were led by exiled former President Mikheil Saakashvili.

A large crowd of protesters that gathered in Tbilisi on Sunday demanded that authorities punish those responsible for the attack on journalists and urged Garibashvili to step down. Some protesters blamed the prime minister for enabling the violence by publicly denouncing the LGBT march.