On December 13, Human Rights Ombudsman Sozar Subari urged the prosecutor general to reconsider a murder case after it emerged that the alleged victim is in fact still alive.

Aleksi Bakhutov, who is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for the murder of Lasha Chopikashvili, first appealed to Subari to investigate his case on October 19, claiming Chopikashvili was in fact still alive. Representatives from the Ombudsman’s Office subsequently established contact with the alleged victim who they report to be safe and well.

“This [new evidence] means Bakhutov is serving a sentence for a murder he did not commit,” Subari says.

Bakhutov claims his confession was given under duress and that he was forced to name three other people as accomplices, who were subsequently charged with disposing of the body and released on bail.

Subari told the Messenger that the alleged accomplices were threatened with an automatic prison sentence if they did not confess to their roles in the affair.

According to the Ombudsman’s Office, in late September Chopikashvili told police that he lost consciousness after Bakhutov assaulted him following an argument in a village farm near Telavi on June 15.

The following day, Chopikashvili claims he went to work as a shepherd in a different village and it was not until he returned to the original village on September 20 that he learned Bakhutov had been accused of his murder.

The statement also claims that authorities were aware that Chopikashvili was still alive when Bakhutov was convicted and sentenced.

The Prosecutor General’s Office will now consider the evidence submitted by the ombudsman before making a decision by next week.