The messenger logo

Second DNA discovered on Vazagashvili’s grave

By Thea Mariamidze
Friday, April 24
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze stated that the second DNA sample, so called minor DNA, was discovered at the scene of Iuri Vazagashvili’s murder, who became a victim of a grenade hidden at his son’s grave on January 20.

Shotadze said that the second DNA sample has not been identified yet. As for the first major DNA sample, according to Shotadze it belongs to a policeman serving in Tsalka municipality, Gia Sosanashvili, who was detained by the Prosecutor’s office as the suspect in Iuri Vazagashvili’s murder. He denies all charges.

Sosanashvili’s lawyer Soso Joglidze accused the Prosecutor’s office of forging DNA results.

He filed Sosanashvili’s statement in the Prosecutor’s Office, in which he says that the second DNA sample belongs to the Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs General Inspection Department, Roin Asanidze.

In his statement, Sosanashvili declares that Asanidze took his (Sosanashvili’s) blood sample in his cabinet and later delivered it to the crime place, where Asanidze’s trace was left accidently.

The lawyer of the suspect requires the DNA test to be held to Roin Asanidze too, in the presence of both sides.

Deputy Chief Prosecutor responded to the accusations of Sosanashvili, saying that their aim is to discredit the investigation and the prosecution.

“I would like to apologize to the family of Iuri Vazagashvili for immoral statements of the suspect and his lawyer. They will not be able to discredit the investigation and the case will be concluded," Shotadze added.

The General Inspection and the Counter Intelligence departments of the Ministry of Interior of Georgia cooperated and established that Sosanashvili was on the territory of the village of Karaphila, Kaspi District on January 19-20, 2015, and according to the DNA test report, his DNA matched with the DNA discovered on the so called “fuse handle” of the hand grenade seized from the crime scene.

The investigation continues with the qualification that the murder was committed under aggravated circumstances according to the article 109 of the Criminal Code of Georgia.

The late Zurab Vazagashvili’s father Iuri Vazagashvili, who had tried to prove his son’s innocence for years and demanded the punishment of United National Movement (UNM) officials for killing his son, died in an explosion at his son’s grave on January 20 in the village of Karapila, Kaspi.