Ruling Party Disapproves Recommendation on High Profile Teenagers’ Murder Case
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, July 3
Representatives of the Georgian Dream ruling party to the Parliament’s Fact-finding Commission on the high profile murder case of the two teenage boys last year disapprove the recommendation of the commission envisaging the launch of the criminal proceedings against M.K., one of the minors involved in the incident.
The ruling party lawmaker Anri Okhanashvili says that the decision of the commission, which is composed of more minority members than the majority ones, is hasty and premature until all witnesses, including M.K., are questioned and all factual materials are studied.
The ruling party MP Eka Beselia says that based on the Parliament’s regulation, the Commission is authorized to ask relevant agencies to launch investigation and not the criminal proceedings against any individual.
As for representatives of the opposition European Georgia party, the materials in the case provide the basis for launching the proceedings against M.K..
The opposition European Georgia MP Sergi Kapanadze, who chairs the fact-finding commission, says that according to the commission’s decree, the commission is authorized to issue the recommendations, suggested by him.
Two 16-year-old boys were stabbed to death in a school brawl in Tbilisi on December 1, 2017.
The Prosecutor’s Office charged two teenagers with ‘premeditated murder of an underage person’, and three others for not reporting the crime.
Davit Saralidze died in the hospital with multiple wounds in his back, while Levan Dadunashvili died immediately.
One of the charged teenagers was detained on December 2, while the other one, who had gone into hiding, surrendered on December 4.
On December 3, the Prosecutor’s Office admitted that the father of one of the students involved in the fight was employed by the Prosecutor’s Office.
They said the man, Mirza Subeliani, had worked in the Department of Human Resources since 2014.
Subeliani resigned on the next day. However, Saralidze says that the man hindered the investigation process.
On June 1, 2018 the Tbilisi City Court announced the verdict on the case.
One of the detainees was found guilty for premeditated murder of one of the victims-Levan Dadunashvili, while another detainee was found guilty for attempted murder of another victim-David Saralidze.
On the next day the teenager, accused of the premeditated murder, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. However, as he is a teenager, his sentence was decreased to 10 years and six months. Another detainee was sentenced to 13 years in prison and his sentence was decreased to 9 years and nine months.
The court failed to say who killed Saralidze.
Zaza Saralidze, father of David Saralidze, stated that the court verdict “proved” that there is someone else in the case, an alleged killer, who still walks free.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, Saralidze and his supporters went to the building of Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office and demanded the resignation of Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze.
The Chief Prosecutor announced about his resignation on the same day, claiming that his body has done its utmost for the fair investigation of the case.
Rallies continued for several days in Tbilisi under the slogan “Don’t Kill Me”. During one the rallies then Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili appeared at the scene and tried to address the audience. However, some threw eggs at him.
The media speculated that one of the reasons of Kvirikashvili’s resignation shortly after the incident was his arrival at the rally, as the founder of the Georgian Dream coalition, “a real ruler of the country’ s as the opposition says, Bidzina Ivanishvili disliked the step.
