Onise Okriashvili, a stand-up comedian and active participant in the anti-government protests, was physically assaulted near his apartment in Tbilisi following days of extensive negative coverage by pro-government media over a joking remark in which he mentioned acclaimed 20th-century Georgian writer Nodar Dumbadze.
Okriashvili was attacked by three unidentified men late on July 23 in Tbilisi’s Vake district, according to media reports. He was hospitalized, with his wife telling reporters that “his clothes were torn, his hand was bloody, his neck was red, and they were hitting him in the head.”
The Interior Ministry reportedly launched an investigation under Article 126 of Georgia’s Criminal Code, which covers “violence” and carries penalties ranging from a fine or 120 to 180 hours of community service to six months to two years of house arrest or up to one year in prison.
In a video showing part of the incident, one of the attackers is heard shouting at Okriashvili, “How can you speak about Nodar Dumbadze like that?” The remark apparently referred to a joke Okriashvili made during a July 12 stand-up show, which pro-government broadcasters and social media channels repeatedly circulated, portraying it as an insult to Dumbadze.
On July 19, Okriashvili published a video on Facebook saying, “For the third day, Georgian Dream’s propaganda has been smearing me with all its resources and encouraging people to act against me.”
In the video, he also clarified that he had not sworn at Dumbadze. “It is not swearing; we are hypothetically discussing who this person [the guest] might hate, and the most absurd thing that comes to my mind at that moment is Nodar Dumbadze,” he said.
“I am deeply saddened and distressed,” Nodar Dumbadze’s daughter, Ketevan Dumbadze, told Netgazeti while commenting on the physical assault of Okriashvili. “Violence is unacceptable under any circumstances, regardless of how foolish his words or actions may have been,” she added.
Ketevan Dumbadze has headed the Writers’ House, a public institution, since 2023. She served as a Georgian Dream MP from 2020 to 2023.
