In what experts are calling either the dawn of clairvoyant journalism or the latest episode of “state-sponsored media magic,” Georgia’s pro-government TV channel POSTV managed to announce the arrests of six opposition figures *before* police even knocked on their doors.
The miracle of preemptive law enforcement was short-lived online — the post was hastily deleted — but not before the now-famous social media card made its rounds, sparking outrage, ridicule, and uncomfortable questions about who really writes the scripts in Georgian politics.
According to independent news outlet OC Media, the Facebook post appeared on 24 October, complete with a neat headline dismissing the Rustaveli Avenue protests as “apolitical propaganda,” followed immediately by a list of specific individuals allegedly “arrested yesterday.”
Trouble is, three of them — Tamta Gogoladze of Droa, Nika Kvitatiani of Ahali, and Giorgi Lemonjava of Droa — were, at the time, still very much walking free. The report notes that some of those “already arrested” even filmed themselves laughing at the card before the eventual, inevitable police visits occurred, making the entire spectacle resemble a badly rehearsed play in which the actors forget their cues.
In the subsequent days, reality caught up with the prophecy. As foretold by Facebook’s oracle, all six opposition activists were indeed rounded up. Lemonjava went first, hours after the card was posted; Kvitatiani and Gogoladze were detained three days later. Courts swiftly handed down short jail sentences, suggesting that due process in modern Georgia is less a chain of independent institutions and more a conveyor belt running from the ruling party’s headquarters directly to the prison gate.
Critics were quick to pounce on the incident as evidence of the apparent symbiosis between Georgian Dream’s political apparatus and its loyal media mouthpieces. Activist Giorgi Mumladze claimed POSTV’s posting spree showed that “the lists were handed over from the State Security Agency to the ‘journalists,’” while opposition figure Tengo Tevzadze joked that police stations might as well be bypassed entirely: “We’ll just ask POSTV directly about your whereabouts.”
More biting was Nika Parulava of Ahali, who told OC Media the blunder encapsulates Georgia’s democratic decay — “Ministries, courts, all decisions originate from the Georgian Dream office or Bidzina Ivanishvili himself.” Parulava recalled literally standing next to Kvitatiani when they saw the “arrest” announcement, prompting them to record a satirical video showing the “detainee” calmly smoking outside their party offices.
Observers say the awkward timing of POSTV’s deleted post underscores two possible realities: either the channel enjoys privileged access to operational police plans, or — and perhaps more worryingly — the arrests themselves are political theatre whose scripts are finalized by the ruling party before law enforcement even takes the stage.
Founded in 2017, POSTV’s current main shareholder is People’s Power MP Viktor Japaridze, representing a party widely regarded as a Georgian Dream satellite. The channel declined to explain to OC Media why it published a police forecast instead of waiting for actual news to occur — proving once again that while independent journalism tries to uncover facts, state-aligned media can always invent them in advance.
Photo: The source