Five people charged with Shakarashvili's murder
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, August 12
The Prosecutor General's Office of Georgia has launched criminal charges against five people, two of them, minors, for the premeditated murder of Giorgi Shakarashvili under aggravating circumstances.
According to the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, five people were involved in the murder of Giorgi Shakarashvili, who was beaten to death and then thrown into the water. A briefing on this issue was held at the Prosecutor's Office on the 11th of August.
According to the second part of Article 109 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, premeditated murder is punishable by 13 to 17 years of imprisonment.
According to the prosecutor's office, V.Ch. was injured during the conflict in the country house and returned to Tbilisi to take revenge on the opposing party, whilst two friends who remained at the party place were provided with the information.
The prosecutor said that V.Ch. contacted his friends in Tbilisi and at about 00:30 they drove to Mtskheta in a Toyota and a Mercedes car.
Due to the physical confrontation, most of the guests at the birthday party left the place. Among them was Giorgi Shakarashvili, who, along with other people at the party, started walking towards Tbilisi.
“The 2 above-mentioned friends of V. Ch. were following and watching them. According to them, the persons who arrived in Mtskheta from Nadzaladevi district in a Mercedes car headed towards Giorgi Shakarashvili and other persons walking on the highway with him,” was said at the briefing.
According to the prosecutor, at around 00:47, in the vicinity of the car wash near the Aragvi Bridge, persons in the Mercedes car attacked Giorgi Shakarashvili and others walking with him. The assailants were also joined by two of V.Ch.'s friends. The assailants physically assaulted Giorgi Shakarashvili and the rest of the group.
People in the Toyota car with V.Ch. went to the cottage to find the representatives of the opposing party in the conflict, however, they were gone. According to the investigation, a Toyota Camry that left the country house blocked the way for Shakarashvili and the people accompanying him.
“As soon as they stopped, V.M., N.R., A.G., Z.Kh., A.K. got out of the car together with V.Ch. and chased Shakarashvili and his companions, at the same time, verbally abusing them,” reads the statement.
To escape the impending violence, Shakarashvili, with others, fled west on the highway to the Aragvi Bridge, crossed the bridge and the highway, and continued jogging west. After crossing the concrete dividing line arranged on the highway, beaten G.K. hid in the plants in the dividing line. V.Ch, A.Q. and Z.Kh followed the boys. Shakarashvili and V.A. pursued the same direction on the right side of the secondary road under the bridge, while Shakarashvili’s friend G.A. ran towards the building that was adjacent to the highway and hid behind the bushes.
Prosecutor claims that during the escape, Shakarashvili was attacked from both sides, which deprived him of the opportunity to move freely and he was forced to enter the ravine on the left side of the road to avoid inevitable retaliation, where he was followed by all 5 attackers. He was unable to escape through the river, the attackers took advantage, and injured Shakarashvili in the area of his head, both eyebrows, upper and lower lips, right elbow and right forearm. Shakarashvili, severely beaten, was thrown into the Aragvi River by the attackers, as a result of which he died.
Moreover, the Investigative Experiment Determined that the period of time when the Toyota Camry was on the Mtskheta Highway was enough to fulfill the intention.
“Before the opening of the case of Shakarashvili's murder, we cooperated with the prosecutor's office, therefore, we have no complaints,” Giorgi Shakarashvili's uncle and family lawyer Mirian Nikoladze told journalists at a press conference. Nikoladze states that the family trusted the investigation at the first stage.
“We went through this whole long period together with the investigation and, in the end, we came to the result of what is called the opening of a crime by mutual agreement and cooperation,” he commented, adding that the family has no complaints with the investigation, otherwise there were a lot of questions and these questions have expired on the way.
19-year-old football player Giorgi Shakarashvili’s body was found in the Aragvi River after a 4-day search. Examination revealed that he had suffered numerous injuries in his life, and his death was caused by asphyxia, which occurred by drowning in water. 17 people have been arrested in connection with the case.
