Women’s Protest Continues — This Time They Blocked the Intersection of Aghmashenebeli Avenue and Tamar Bridge

“I address you, my colleagues…
Colleagues who represent Georgia’s critical media and the public interest.

Your solidarity is inspiring, and it is deeply painful that I cannot stand beside you right now. Especially now, when you must work in a completely unprotected environment, and when it is your daily sacrifice that ensures the voice of injustice and resistance can still be heard.

A voice that the oligarchic regime seeks to silence with violence, blackmail, threats, and countless fabricated punishments.

During my imprisonment, my faith in my profession has only grown stronger. Journalism is far more than seeking, processing, and distributing information. In a world of bots, trolls, propaganda, and oligarchs, we must be able to survive and work for our ideals and for a better, European future.

I believe that as long as there are still people who will tell you that you are not alone, we will manage to preserve and develop both our profession and our country.

That is why I call on my fellow citizens: cooperate with the media and with journalists, help expose all those individuals, circles, and groups who have normalized corruption, injustice, and violence—those who rob us, impoverish us, and betray us.

I call on Georgian business to take responsibility for the survival of a free, critical press.

And I appeal to the modern civilized world: do not leave us alone, face to face with Russia and its proxy authoritarian regime. Do not allow the voice of freedom from Georgia to be lost!”