MEP Viola Von Cramon alleges Georgian gov’t backs smear campaign against her

MEP Viola von Cramon on Wednesday alleged the Georgian Dream authorities were backing a smear campaign against her, in reaction to recent claims by Georgian journalist Dito Chubinidze that the MEP was a “genetic and spiritual descendant” of Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring.

 

In her tweet the MEP claimed accounts synthesizing with the Georgian Dream authorities had started “pedaling a lie” over her connection with Göring. 

 

“Russians spread this lie years ago equating my maiden name Gehring with Göring. Names are not related”, she said. 

 

The MEP has also responded to a video being circulated on social media reportedly depicting her under the influence of alcohol. 

 

She cited the footage as a “deepfake” created with the use of artificial intellect and advised the Georgian authorities to hold “open political discussions instead of spreading fake videos”,  before expressing her gratitude to the fact-checkers who had exposed the misinformation.

 

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>1/3<br>Kremlin-style <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/disinformation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#disinformation</a> in <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gerogia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Gerogia</a> started ridiculous smearing against me. As a <a href=”https://twitter.com/EP_Democracy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@EP_Democracy</a> Rapporteur 4 <a href=”https://twitter.com/GreensEFA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@GreensEFA</a>, I know perfectly that combating <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/disinfo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#disinfo</a> would be impossible without independent fact-checkers. Thanks to <a href=”https://twitter.com/MythDetector?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@MythDetector</a> for uncovering. More <a href=”https://t.co/3gA13Ayw3y”>pic.twitter.com/3gA13Ayw3y</a></p>&mdash; Viola von Cramon (@ViolavonCramon) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ViolavonCramon/status/1651146321720496129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>April 26, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>