Movement – “Nationals” is registered on February 8, 2016. According to the statute, one of the goals of the movement is to protect and strengthen Orthodox Christian values. Alexander (Sandro) Bregadze, Kakhaber Migineishvili and Zurab Enukidze are the founders of the movement.
Sandro Bregadze was appointed as Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia; while on October 1, 2014, he became the Deputy State Minister of Georgia for Diaspora Issues. While holding a public political position, he was often making homophobic statements that resulted in a civic platform No to Phobia! to address the Prime Minister twice with request to dismiss him. In February 2016, Sandro Bregadze resigned, stating his stance towards legalizing samesex marriage as the reason.
According to the 2016 monitoring, 26 statements containing hate speech were made on behalf of the movement – Nationals. Out of them, 21 statements were homophobic, 3 were racist and 2 – xenophobic.
