On October 27, „ექვთიმე ბიძინაშვილი“ (Ekvtime Bidzinashvili), a Facebook page, published a photo with a caption: “Document proving that Bidzina Ivanishvili is ill”. The photo shows a report from Moscow’s Fourth Psychiatric Hospital.
The document indicates 1991 as the year when the report was issued. According to the document, patient Bidzina Ivanishvili was hearing voices and was complaining about hallucinations. The medical report had been issued by Igor Kalyugin, who had been observing the patient for two weeks. The report reads that the patient has an acute form of schizophrenia. The report recommends that the patient may not drive a car and may not stay in the room one-on-one with another person. The recommendations also include that the patient should be under a medical supervision. The report is signed by A.S.F. Bagnenko.
The disseminated document is fake, as the status and the coat of arms of the country indicated in the document was not used in 1991 anymore, whereas the text itself contains grammatical errors.
The given document includes several factual inaccuracies that put its authenticity under question:
- Part of the document mentions Chorvila, Sachkhere Municipality, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic as the registration place of Bidzina Ivanishvili, however, another part of the text mentions that the judicial-psychic examination on criminal, civil, and administrative cases had been carried out in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation. On the day when the document was issued (July 17, 1991), the country was still called Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, not Russian Federation. The name was only changed on December 25, 1991.
- The document comes with the coat of arms that has actually been in use only from November 30, 1993. In 1991, the coat of arms consisted of Soviet symbols. Therefore, had the document actually been created in 1991, it would not have had the coat of arms that is in use from 1993.
The given document also includes grammatical and spelling mistakes – something that further aggravates the suspicions of its fakeness:
| What is written in the document | What would have been correct |
| Департамент здравохранения город москви | Департамент здравоохранения города Москвы |
| государственное учереждение пссихиатрическая клиническая больница № 4 | государственное учреждение психиатрическая клиническая больница № 4 |
| Иванишвили Бидзина Григолич | Иванишвили Бидзина Григорьевич |
| Мужчина | Мужской |
Dissemination of the document
The photo of the document has up to 170 shares on the Facebook page Ekvtime Bidzinashvili. The photo has also been posted by another Facebook page, „ლურჯი ვირი“ (Blue donkey), which has been actively disseminating discrediting memes and posts in the run-up to the parliamentary election. Both pages are affiliated with the United National Movement. According to the information, indicated on the page, it was created in November 2019 and is administered from Greece, despite having indicated Gibraltar as its location.
As for Ekvtime Bidzinashvili, it was created in April 2020 and became especially active in the pre-election period. Narratives disseminated by the page also aim to discredit Georgian Dream, in general, and Bidzina Ivanishvili, in particular.
The page also commented the hostage situation in a bank in Zugdidi and published posts where it tries to portray the terrorist who broke in the Bank of Georgia as being governed by the government. Another post suggests that the Head of the Regional Police, who was carrying out the negotiations with the terrorist, was actually an accomplice of the crime.
Interestingly, the document has been shared by a user called Avto Ivanidze in several open Facebook groups: „ერთად სახლში“ (Home together), „მიშას ფანები“ (Fans of Misha), „ლიდერები მიხეილ სააკაშვილთან ალიანსში / Leaders with Mikheil Saakashvili in“, „მიშა პრემიერად“ (Misha for Prime Minister).
