Man sentenced 18 Years in absentia for MP’s car explosion
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, February 28
Tbilisi City Court has sentenced Davit Khechuashvili to 18 years in prison for the attempted murder of Georgian opposition lawmaker Givi Targamadze in 2016.
Khechuashvili is still wanted by the Georgian law enforcers.
The court statement says that the individual illegally purchased and stored firearms, explosives and explosive devices and caused significant damage.
“The convict organized a plot to murder then-member of the United National Movement, MP Giorgi Targmadze, with an unidentified accomplice and attached an explosive device to the bottom rear part of Givi Targamadze’s car,” the Tbilisi City Court says.
“On 4 October 2016, at 21:09 the convict, sure that the MP was inside the car with another person, activated the explosive device. Five people near the scene were injured as a result,” reads the statement.
Another individual Boris Chagunava, who was also detained for the case, was sentenced to 4 years in jail for the illegal purchase and storage of a weapon.
The punishment was later replaced with 6 years’ probation.
Givi Targmadze says that such an individual was convicted for his case “who will never be detained.”
He said that he demanded the explosion case be classified as a terrorist act but Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office refused to do so.
He claims that three individuals were involved in the explosion, who might have been acting based on the demands of Russian and Georgian special services.
Targamadze says that Khechuashvili, Chagunava and Abramishvili carried out the attack on him and speculated that all the three walk free in Georgia.
