The tragic murder of transgender icon Kesaria Abramidze shocks Georgia
A tragic incident occurred in Tbilisi, Georgia. The transgender model, actress, and influencer Kesaria Abramidze was brutally murdered, reports the Daily Mail. The 37-year-old was fatally stabbed shortly after the Georgian parliament passed an anti-LGBT law.
Abramidze gained prominence after undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2014. The actress was attacked in her home in Tbilisi, sustaining more than 50 stab wounds. Neighbours discovered her blood-soaked body late last night. The suspect, 26-year-old Beka Jaiani, who reportedly knew the victim, was arrested at the airport while attempting to flee the country.
Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili, an opponent of the new law, expressed her outrage: "A terrible murder! A denial of humanity! Only this might sober up our society… Hopefully, the killing of this beautiful young woman will at least serve to make us more humane and Christian."
Abramidze had over half a million followers on social media and represented Georgia in the Miss Trans Star International contest in 2018. Her death is the third high-profile murder of a transgender woman in Georgia in recent years.
Violence against LGBT plus individuals and hate speech in Georgia
According to the Daily Mail, the new law, which Georgia adopted simultaneously with Russia, bans same-sex marriages, adoption by same-sex couples, and state support in the process of gender reassignment. Georgia's President vetoed the law.
The British Embassy in Tbilisi commented on the new law: "The United Kingdom is seriously concerned by the adoption, in the third reading, of the legislative package on family values and protection of minors. This package undermines fundamental human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and assembly and risks further stigmatisation and discrimination of part of the Georgian population."
The Social Justice Centre (SJC), quoted by the Daily Mail in a statement, said: "There is a direct correlation between the use of hate speech in politics and hate crimes. It has been almost a year that the Georgian Dream government has been aggressively using homo/bi/transphobic language and cultivating it with mass propaganda means. It is certain that the policy of hate has serious consequences – harassment of LGBTI people, their marginalization and violence against them. The case of the murder of Kesaria Abramidze cannot be perceived without this general context."
