Georgian authorities have announced that they are investigating the death of a prominent transgender influencer, suspecting a gender-related murder her identity - a case that is particularly relevant two days after the voting of a law limiting the rights of the LGBT community, notes France Presse, quoted by BTA.
Kesaria Abramidze, influencer, actress and model, died of “multiple stab wounds” in his home, the interior ministry of the Caucasian country announced. The ministry said it had arrested a suspect who local media said was the boyfriend of the 37-year-old influencer, who had more than 500,000 followers on "Instagram".
"An investigation is underway into a "premeditated murder committed with particular cruelty and under gender-related aggravating circumstances,", the ministry added.
Kesaria Abramidze's murder came a day after the country's parliament passed a law against the "propaganda of homosexual relations", which was condemned as repressive by the EU and the US. At the moment, however, there is no evidence that her death is related to this law, notes AFP.
Georgia is a former Soviet republic with a predominantly Orthodox population. The country has drawn closer to the West in recent decades and has ambitions to join the EU and NATO, but the ruling party "Georgian Dream" began to profess conservative and anti-Western views. Her critics suspect she wants to get closer to Russia, which also has a law against "LGBT propaganda".
Pro-Western President Salome Zurabishvili condemned on "Facebook" "the horrible murder” of Kesaria Abramidze. "This tragedy should be a wake-up call for Georgian society," she wrote.
In the past, Kesaria Abramidze has accused the authorities of failing to effectively fight domestic violence. In April, she announced on social networks that she was being abused by her partner, with whom she had a "toxic relationship of two years".
Declaring that she feared for her life, she said she was forced to seek temporary refuge abroad. "No to the murders of women that have become so common in our country," she also wrote.
Abramidze became a public figure who openly announced her gender change and represented the country at the contest "Miss Trans Star International" in 2018.
In a 2022 report, the Office of the Georgian Human Rights Commissioner assessed that the LGBT community was subject to "persistent discrimination and violence". Legislation passed this week, which must be signed before taking effect, bans the "propaganda of homosexual relations and incest" in educational institutions and television broadcasts, and also restricts "gatherings and demonstrations".
Human rights groups criticized this wording, which puts homosexual relations in the same category as incest, recalls AFP.