A prominent Georgian far-right campaigner and former leader of the Alt Info movement has lashed out at critics in an angry video message denying he is queer. 

On Thursday, Zurab Makharadze published a video address in which he protested his critics assuming he was a ‘faggot’ following his announcement earlier that day that he was leaving politics. 

‘All this motherfucking collective liberal elite is now stating it like a fact […] because of some [online] bot writing something,’ Makharadze ranted. ‘To those all who listen to them: fuck your mothers!’

In the first video, announcing his ‘retirement’ on Alt Info’s TV channel, Makharadze claimed that he had had a relationship with ‘another woman’, and an unspecified individual or group had ‘got hold of images of my texts with the girl, intimate relationship and so on… and there were some issues of blackmail, that they would make them public and stuff like that’. He attributed his departure in part to wanting to avoid causing distress to the woman in question. 

A prominent far-right figure known for using hate speech and violent language during street protests as well as on air, including justifying femicide on Alt Info’s TV channel in September 2020, Makharadze went on to apologise to his and his party’s supporters for his ‘failure to have the character needed for this job, for not meeting standards necessary for a leader’. 

Following his announcement on 15 December that he was retiring from politics, an anonymous Facebook account launched a fierce defence of Makharadze, insisting in a comment that his enemies had trapped him into being recorded in the company of ‘gays’ to blackmail him.

This triggered speculation amongst some that the supporter had revealed more than Makharadze had wanted to share, while others, including Makharadze, claimed it had been done intentionally to trigger rumours of his being queer. 

In Georgia, blackmail with sexual footage has mostly been used against men accused of engaging in same-sex sexual contact and women, and has been frequently used as a political weapon against public figures. Evidence of men in exclusive heterosexual relationships having affairs with other women is often downplayed. 

On Saturday, the Special Investigation Service confirmed to On.ge that Makharadze had been summoned for questioning, indicating that the authorities might be investigating the blackmail case. 

Makharadze has been at the forefront of the rise of Alt Info, a far-right group that was primarily responsible for organising the violent attacks on activists and journalists in July last year. 

[Read more on OC Media: Homophobic mob celebrates on Tbilisi streets after Pride march cancelled] 

Instead of facing criminal charges as demanded by the Georgian Public Defender, Makharadze, together with his allies, registered Alt Info as a political party under the name the ‘Conservative Movement’. Since its founding, the party has advocated closer ties with Russia. 

Pushed out of his party

Zurab Makharadze has been intermittently absent since spring of this year, but has been reluctant to confirm any changes or provide reasons for his absence. 

In March, Makharadze recorded a cryptic video message saying that he would be gone for a month or more from both Tbilisi and the Alt Info TV channel, where he had previously enjoyed unlimited air time. No mention was made of any changes to his standing in the party. 

He offered more details only after OC Media revealed in April that he had been removed as chair of the Conservative Movement earlier that month without any public announcement. 

[Read more on OC Media: Face of Georgian pro-Russian group Alt Info dropped as party leader]

Makharadze responded by attributing the change to personal issues, claiming that he had stayed at a monastery in Georgia to deal with issues including his father’s death and the end of his marriage as a result of his own ‘wrong deeds’. 

He never identified the monastery, preventing journalists from checking the validity of his story.

In late October, the Conservative Movement announced that their former chair would no longer be part of the party and would manage the Alt Info TV channel instead.