Prosecutor’s Office: Rustavi 2 ex-owner committed suicide
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, June 23
On Tuesday Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office held a special briefing and announced it had concluded its investigation into the death of one of the founders of Rustavi 2 TV channel (and Georgia’s ex-Ambassador to Russia) Erosi Kitsmarishvili, who was found dead in his car in an underground car park at his Vake home in central Tbilisi in July 15 2014.
He had a single gunshot wound to the head. Experts said he was shot at close range.
The case was initially regarded as a suicide, but Kitsmarishvili’s family and friends insisted that he was murdered.
Chief Prosecutor’s Office officially ruled Kitsmarishvili's death a suicide and named his debts and impending penury as his motives for killing himself.
The Office said they questioned about 600 people, conducted dozens of expertise and examinations, studied Kitsmarishvili’s mobile and computed information to reach the verdict.
“The solution was approved by all experts, independent experts among them, who were involved in the investigation process,” the Prosecutor’s Office said.
The Prosecutor’s Office stressed they studied Kitsmarishvili’s financial situation prior to the tragic fact and found out he was obliged to cover bank loans worth ˆ312,000 and 120,00 GEL ( $54.000).
His flat in Vake was also heavily mortgaged.
The Office said the gun found in Kitsmarishvili’s car was bought by him two days before the death and registered one day before his suicide.
Kitsmarishvili’s family insist that it was not a suicide, and will hold a special press conference over the issue in the coming days.
