Family of murdered Georgian businessman demands to know who ordered murder
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Wednesday, January 27
Family members of murdered Georgian businessman Besik Khardziani want to know who ordered his death. The Prosecutor’s Office stated a week ago that the case had been opened, and named two foreign citizens as the main suspects.
“We know that someone killed my son in front of his house, but we want to know who ordered the murder, who paid the killers,” the late Khardziani’s mother said.
Other family members and relatives added that in general, a case is always perceived to be open when the motive and all the other details of the case remain unknown.
A week ago, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia stated that it had opened the notorious murder case of Khardziani and stressed that Russian and Ukrainian citizens were being accused of the “premeditated murder”.
The Office named Ukrainian citizen Alexander Dametov, 31, and a Russian citizen Oleg Doev, 43, as the alleged offenders, one of whom killed Khardziani near his home on March 28, 2015.
The Prosecutor’s Office stressed that they opened the case “shortly after the crime”, but did not relase any information due to perceived threats against the investigation.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the two men arrived in Georgia on January 13 2015, rented a flat in Tbilisi and then began to close watch the businessman to learn his daily schedule.
The Office announced that on March 28, mounted on a moped with a helmet covering his face, Dametov shot Khartsiani three times and then fled the scene.
Later on the same day, the two left Georgia through the western Sarpi checkpoint to Turkey.
The investigation also revealed that Dametov arrived in Georgia and left the country with a fake passport.
The Prosecutor’s Office has said that a range of investigative activities have been conducted, tens of witnesses have been questioned and almost all necessary evidence was detected in the process of investigation.
The law-enforcers also found the pistol Dametov threw into the Mtkvari River after allegedly committing the crime.
The individuals remain wanted; the investigation is still in progress as the motive of the murder still remains unclear.
Khardziani, the owner of property at Tbilisi’s popular recreational zone Kus Tba (Turtle Lake), died of gunshot wounds in hospital several hours after the shooting.
Khardziani was among a group of entrepreneurs who claimed their property had been illegally seized by the country’s previous government.
