Eliso Janashia is a civil activist and a journalist from the Georgian coastal town of Poti. In 2020, Janashia established a civil platform – “Poti Citizens for Their Rights” – to address pressing human rights and ecological issues in Poti, including such matters as sea pollution and the misuse of underwater resources. Janashia is also a founder of a social enterprise – the “Limena” cafe – which serves as a cultural and educational space in the region.
In the evening of December 23, 2024, two women, whom Janashia had never met before, raided the “Limena” cafe and started a commotion. They were aggressive towards the young people gathered in the cafe, calling the place a “shelter of perversion”. The women were annoyed by the European Union flag displayed in the cafe, asking why people needed Europe when it was Russia that provided food for them.
Once Janashia started to record the incident, one of the women attacked her physically, pulling her hair. Emergency services were called to relieve Janashia’s scalp pain sustained as a result. While the police authorities also arrived, they did not take any action against the assailants.
Janashia claims that the attack was politically motivated.
“This woman, on that evening, was ready to attack us as supporters of Europe and opponents of Russia. She simply didn’t have a weapon, but she had a sense of complete impunity,” Janashia wrote on Facebook.
In May 2024, the so-called “Foreign Agents Law” was adopted in Georgia, which was targeted against foreign-funded media and civil society organisations and signified the Government’s anti-European turn. Massive countrywide protests followed, with a new wave starting after “Georgian Dream” claimed victory in the contested parliamentary elections of October 2024. Janashia, through her civil platform, has been actively reporting on the protest updates and organising pro-European demonstrations in Poti. She believes that the assault was ordered by “Georgian Dream” as a punishment for her activism.
Organising physical attacks, as seems to be the case with Eliso Janashia, represents one of the many repressive tools adopted by the ruling party to silence dissenters. While it remains to be seen whether the ruling party succeeds in suppressing the protests, after the elections, it is evident that the party has tightened its grip on the media and civil activists and drifted further from the path towards the EU and democratic values.
Sources:
GE 23/12/2024; On December 23, at 7 pm, Eliso Janashia was attacked on political grounds at the social enterprise “Limena” in Poti City (Facebook page of the NGO Sh-poti)
GE 23/12/2024; Journalist and Civil Activist Eliso Janashia was physically attacked in Poti (Formulanews.ge)
GE 24/12/2024; “She pulled a handful of my hair” – Journalist Eliso Janashia says she was attacked by a “Dream” activist (radiotavisaufleba.ge)
ENG 24/12/2024; Activist Eliso Janashia Attacked in Poti (sakartvelosambebi.ge)
ENG 01/08/2023; From where I stand: “Women quickly understand the environmental risks” (georgia.unwomen.org)
ENG 2024; “Russian” Foreign Agents Law in Georgia adopted despite widespread protests stoppersecution.org
ENG 03.12.2024; Georgia is being rocked by growing protests. Here’s what you need to know (edition.cnn.com)
GEO 08.02.2025; New laws, violence are the basis of the building of autocracy by Georgian Dream – HRW (netgazeti.ge)
