Terms such as “illegitimate parliament,” “so-called parliamentary speaker,” “oligarch’s MP,” and “regime’s city court” have become the basis of a complaint filed by the ruling Georgian Dream party with the national communications commission against the popular opposition channels Formula and TV Pirveli.

Lawyer Tornike Mighineishvili stated that the channels are being accused of violating regulatory provisions of the broadcasting law, which was amended in April 2025.

The channels initially feared heavy fines and/or broadcast restrictions, but now the crackdown has escalated.

More than a dozen journalists, activists and opposition figures in Georgia have been summoned to court, accused of insulting members of the ruling Georgian Dream party on social media.

Among those summoned is Vika Bukia, a journalist at the independent broadcaster TV Pirveli, who shared excerpts of a court document accusing her of calling Georgian Dream MP Mariam Lashkhi a “slave” in a Facebook post...

Sanaia, a journalist with Formula TV, told OCCRP that the court summonses are meant to “intimidate the public” and said he would not attend his hearing. “The court will make whatever decision Georgian Dream instructs it to,” he said...