One of Georgia’s most prominent transgender women has been killed in her home, a day after the country’s parliament passed a major anti-LGBT bill.
Local authorities said Kesaria Abramidze, 37, was stabbed to death in her apartment in the capital, Tbilisi, on Wednesday.
The Interior Ministry said it was investigating a “premeditated murder committed with particular cruelty and aggravating circumstances based on gender”.
A 26-year-old man was arrested in the case that shocked the small South Caucasus country. According to Georgian media, he knew the victim.
Human rights groups have linked the killing to the new anti-LGBT law, saying the government’s promotion of the law has fuelled transphobic hate crimes.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who opposed the new law, said the “horrific murder” raised urgent questions about hate crimes and discrimination.
Legislation by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s government severely restricts the rights of LGBT people.
It introduces bans on same-sex marriage, gender confirmation surgery, the adoption of children by non-heterosexual people and the promotion of same-sex relationships in schools.
The bill passed parliament on Tuesday by a vote of 84 to 0, despite criticism from human rights groups.
The ruling party said the bill on “Protection of Family Values and Minors” was aimed at protecting a majority of Georgians seeking protection from “LGBT propaganda.”
But local LGBT rights activists said the government had used homophobic and transphobic language and ideas to promote the bill.
Several activists have directly linked what they see as the government’s harmful rhetoric to Ms Abramidze’s murder.
One of the country’s first openly trans public figures, she had represented Georgia in international trans pageants and had more than 500,000 followers on social media.
“Political homophobia, biphobia and transphobia have become central to the government’s official discourse and ideology,” said local human rights group the Social Justice Center.
“The murder of Kesaria Abramidze cannot be considered separately from this serious and global context,” he added.
Progressive politicians outside the country have also linked the killing to the government’s legislative agenda.
“Those who sow hatred will reap violence. Kesaria Abramidze was killed just one day after the Georgian parliament adopted the anti-LGBTI law,” wrote German MP Michael Roth, the Social Democrat chairman of the country’s foreign affairs committee.
European Union officials had already condemned the legislation when it was passed earlier this week, saying it further undermined the country’s stated goal of EU membership.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the law “pushes the country further away from its European path.” He called on the Georgian government to withdraw the law.
This legislation infringes on “the fundamental rights of citizens” and increases discrimination and stigma, he added.
The British Embassy also expressed “serious concerns”.
Human rights groups have called the Georgian legislation similar to Russian laws, which severely restrict LGBT rights.
According to the Washington-based think tank Freedom House, the bill was “taken straight from the Kremlin’s authoritarian playbook.”
