Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday slammed the opposition-minded Formula TV channel after featuring his son on the weekend, claiming the party officials and their family members had to use bodyguards and state vehicles to move “safely” after voting on the controversial foreign transparency bill earlier this month. 

In his social media post Kobakhidze alleged the attempts by the TV channel owned by David Kezerashvili, the currently wanted former defence minister under the United National Movement authorities, was the “continuation of liberal facism” that, as he said, “will never win” in the country. 

 “Kezerashvili’s TV has aired  a story saturated with shameful fakes, which contains a video image of my younger son. This is the continuation of liberal fascism that will never win in Georgia," Kobakhidze wrote.

The bill on the transparency of foreign influence was recalled by the ruling party earlier this month and then officially rejected, citing “misleading” the public over its content by the “radical domestic forces”, and the necessity of “tranquility” in the country ahead of the European Union’s forthcoming decisions on the country’s membership candidate status.