Court Sends Two Detained for Deadly Explosion in Tbilisi to Pre-Trial Detention
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, January 22
The Tbilisi City Court sent two employees of the KazTransGas company, who have been detained for negligence leading to the deadly explosion in Tbilisi on 16 January, to pre-trial detention on Sunday.
The prosecution was demanding the use of the measure against the defendants, while the defense had been demanding the release on bail.
Tornike Tatishvili,27, and Vazel Mamadiani, 61, were officially charged on 19 January.
The pre-trial session will be held on 14 March.
Four people were killed as a result of an explosion caused by gas leakage in a block of flats in the Didi Digomi district of Tbilisi on 16 January claimed the lives of four people, one of whom was a four-year-old child. The explosion has injured a further eight people out of which six were minors.
The detainees do not admit to the crime and claim that they had checked the whole building but the device used to measure gas concentration in the air failed to detect the leak.
KazTransGas says that on the day of the tragedy, two building residents phoned in to complain about the smell of gas:
“At the presence of the people who phoned us several areas were checked. However, the device which measures gas concentration in the air did not confirm the gas leak.
“The same day, at 20:33, we were informed by police that the explosion took place in the building, on the sixth floor, in flat number 49. Gas detectors were turned off in several flats of the building. The reason for the explosion is unknown to us and we are cooperating with the investigation to find them out”, KazTransGas has said in a statement.
Three, who died in the tragedy, are from one and the same family. The family lived next to the flat where the explosion took place.
