Ministry of Internal Affairs would like to respond to the dissemination of false information spread by various media sources aimed at police discrimination, which has recently become a permanent issue. It is a direct and deliberate attack against the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as a state institution, serves to weaken public confidence towards the police and tarnishes the dignity of police officers.
False information is spread against the Ministry on a daily basis. The purpose of the mentioned actions are clear to everyone and the society is well-aware of the fact, that the primary intent of it is to weaken the trust towards the agency, which ensures safety of the citizens and the rule of law in round-the-clock regime.
Everyone is well-aware of the intensity of police work and each employee of the Ministry in order to maintain public order and safety throughout the country.
Special emphasis should be put on the fact that beginning from last year, in parallel with the fight against criminal, police officers have been involved in activities directed against the spread of COVID-19. Many of them have not even been able to see their own family members in a period full of such challenges. Perhaps, you already know, that some of our employees have not seen their newly born children for months. And yet, they are subjected to the attacks in this difficult times.
I would also like to note that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is one of the largest agencies, with approximately 40,000 employees, and of course, there are separate cases of misconduct to which the Ministry responds and relevant information is proactively provided to the media.
It should be noted that, along with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, false information is actively circulated targeting other state agencies. Me and my colleagues from the Strategic Communications Department have repeatedly had to make statements about numerous lies spread in the media.
I will provide you just with a few examples today, as listing each of them will probably take a few hours.
In the recent period, one of the media outlets directly accused Gela Kvashilava, the commander of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Patrol Police unit, of drug trafficking, published a picture of him and despite the fact that the information was not confirmed by the Minister of Internal Affairs and story author was additionally provided with information that the information was false, the story was still aired in the assertive manner. This was a classic example of fake news.
We also heard most serious accusations from the side of one of the TV companies, as if the police and specific police officers are ensuring the protection of citizens involved in prostitution. In this case, the TV announcement was also aired in the confirmatory tone. After we checked the information, we told them that persons named by the journalist were not employed at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, however the dissemination of lies continued. The report also included the comment of the Minister of Internal Affairs with interpretations, alleging that police car had anything to do with the report they had prepared.
Another clear example of misreporting is the false information simultaneously spread by several TV channels regarding the newly appointed head of the Shida Kartli Police Department. Despite the fact that Ilia Kvaghinadze made personal statement that he has never been employed at Constitutional Security Department, media outlets continued to circulate the false information and photos throughout the day, only in one of which our colleague was depicted.
I would like to reiterate once again what I stated in the beginning, the Ministry of Internal Affairs makes prompt response on any information, including information disseminated by media or social network and in case if signs of crime are detected, relevant and effective investigation will be conducted.
As the Director of the Strategic Communications Department, I can also recall the bright examples of successful cooperation with media. Such cases do not take place on a rare occasion, even the latest fact, when two citizens were taken as hostages by a certain citizen and their lives were truly in danger. In that case, all media sources took our request into account and no information was reported regarding the fact before the special operation was finalized. For this, I publicly expressed my gratitude and would like to thank you once again.
In the end, I would like to note that our Department will further continue to make respective response on false information and the agency will defend the rights of those employees whose honor and dignity were wrongfully tarnished.
