Imedi TV asked me to give permission to get the camera recordings showing the departure of my family from Shovi. Of course, I gave them permission. Such a statement made today the Mayor of Tbilisi.

“I would like to mention one more topic, in particular, rumors and misinformation intentionally spread about my family. It’s as if I used a government helicopter to get my children out of a disaster zone. That is a very big lie. In this regard, I gave explanations and told the truth to the public. I can’t imagine a person who would decide on this and take this step. No matter what your political views are - it is very grave that you are doing all this on purpose trying to blackmail me personally. You are trying to make people aggressive towards me and my family. This lie was very evil, and you are spreading such false information without verification. Regarding this issue, the Imedi TV company asked me to give permission to get the surveillance camera recordings showing the departure of my family and young children from Shovi. Of course, I gave them permission.

The public saw the truth with their own eyes and understood what some media, politicians, political activists are ready to do. At the same time, I should note that there were people who condemned this evil. Numerous journalists working for opposition channels used to continuously send messages to our press service telling this was a big mess. I thank each of them for their stance. There have also been people representing different political parties, who voiced their opinions on how disgusting it is to deliberately spread such lies and rumors. I would like to thank everyone for taking this stand, and it really has nothing to do with political parties and political views. Such evil is completely detrimental to our society and our future.

As I mentioned earlier, today is a day of mourning and in respect of the deceased, I will not dare to talk more about these people and what they truly deserve. What we need to do now is stand together, cheer each other up, and ease the pain of the families and friends of the victims as much as possible. We need to show everyone that we can put everything aside and stand together during such a terrible tragedy. I know for sure that we, the Georgians are able to show kindness to each other instead of hatred, show examples of supporting each other instead of intolerance. May God bless our country and our children”, - said Kakha Kaladze.