Killed teenager’s father says Chief Prosecutor is provided with ‘Incorrect Info’
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, February 8
Father of the killed teenager David Saralidze says that the case prosecutors are proving the Georgian Chief Prosecutor with “incorrect information” regarding the fatal case which took place in Tbilisi back in 2017.
Zaza Saralidze made the statement late on Wednesday after his meeting with Chief Prosecutor Shalva Tadumadze.
The meeting took place after the demands of Saralidze in the yard of the Prosecutor’s Office when the office guard tried to make him leave the area.
Saralidze inflicted injuries and after it was announced that the meeting would have taken place on the same day and not after a week as it was scheduled.
“Tadumadze promised me that he will look into the case closely and that the following meeting will be held during the presence of the case prosecutors,” Saralidze said.
Two 16-year-old boys were stabbed to death in a school brawl in Tbilisi on December 1, 2017.
The Prosecutor’s Office charged two teenagers with ‘premeditated murder of an underage person’, and three others for not reporting the crime.
Davit Saralidze died in hospital due to multiple wounds in his back, while Levan Dadunashvili died immediately.
One of the charged teenagers was detained on December 2, while the other one, who had gone into hiding, surrendered on December 4.
On December 3, the Prosecutor’s Office admitted that the father of one of the students involved in the fight was employed by the Prosecutor’s Office.
They said the man, Mirza Subeliani, had worked in the Department of Human Resources since 2014.
Subeliani resigned on the next day. However, Saralidze says that the man hindered the investigation process.
On June 1, 2018, the Tbilisi City Court announced the verdict on the case.
One of the detainees was found guilty for the premeditated murder of one of the victims-Levan Dadunashvili, while another detainee was found guilty for the attempted murder of another victim-David Saralidze.
On the next day the teenager, accused of the premeditated murder, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. However, as he is a teenager, his sentence was decreased to 10 years and six months. Another detainee was sentenced to 13 years in prison and his sentence was decreased to 9 years and nine months.
The court failed to say who killed Saralidze.
Zaza Saralidze stated that the court verdict “proved” that there is someone else in the case, an alleged killer, who still walks free.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, Saralidze and his supporters went to the building of Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office and demanded the resignation of Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze.
The Chief Prosecutor announced about his resignation on the same day, claiming that his body has done its utmost for the fair investigation of the case.
-investigated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and not by the Prosecutor’s Office.
The Georgian Dream ruling party members say that the UNM is trying to use Saralidze’s tragedy for its political interests, while the opposition responds that the people showed protest to the injustice encouraged by the authorities.
