Georgian Dream Official Accused of Sexual Harassment by Employee

Ilia Jishkariani, MP of the Tbilisi City Assembly and the official of the ruling Georgian Dream party, was accused of sexual harassment and physical abuse by his assistant, Tamta Todadze, who claims that he beat her after she refused to engage in sexual activity with him. She claims the incident was not properly investigated by law enforcement agencies, the majority MP was not questioned in time and was summoned for questioning only after the public directly demanded he be charged.

“If he was not a government official, he would already have been arrested,” Todadze told media.

The MP denies the rape attempt and accused the former aide of trying to blackmail him.

Jishkariani's assistant still has evidence of violence on her body, in bruises, a fact which has been confirmed by the LEPL Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau.

However, the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia has not yet granted her victim status, nor has Ilia Jishkarian been officially charged.

The above resulted in outrage in society and a public meeting outside the Prosecutor's Office is scheduled at 7 pm today as a show of solidarity for the victim. Even so, some members of society, women among them, have taken to social media to insult the woman and accuse her of leading Jishkariani on or outright lying about the incident. A fellow GD MP even called her a "prostitute".

The Ministry of Internal Affairs says that the investigation is underway and all the relevant procedures are being conducted to establish the truth.

“The investigation is underway to establish the objective truth regarding the mentioned case The crime scene was examined, witnesses were interviewed and expertise was scheduled,” the MIA stated.

By Ana Dumbadze