Prosecutor’s Office: Shakarashvili died from asphyxia, drowning
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, July 13
A few days ago, the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia published a special statement dedicated to the death of the young football player, Giorgi Shakarashvili, whose body was found in the river a few weeks ago.
According to the statement, the cause of death was asphyxia by drowning in water. At the same time, the statement reads that there are signs of ‘life-threatening injuries’ on the body of Shakarashvili around the head, both eyeballs, upper and lower lip, in the area of the right elbow joint, and the right forearm, around the abdomen, groin, pubis, waist, and both buttocks, identifying the traces of a dense-blunt object in the near period before the death was occurred.
The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia made a decision to change the qualification of the criminal case and added intentional murder committed in aggravated circumstances by more than one person. The offence is provided in Article 109 2 subparagraph ‘e’ of the Criminal Code of Georgia and the investigation into the death of Giorgi Shakarashvili will be conducted with this qualification.
Also, according to the prosecutor, it is very unlikely that the damages on the body of Shakarashvili could not be done by one person only.
Late at night on June 18th, a conflict among young people happened in one of the summer cottages in Narekvavi settlement, Mtskheta district, at a birthday party. At the cottage, several young people involved in a physical confrontation called for help from Tbilisi, in particular from the Nadzaladevi district, a group of people from Tbilisi, armed with iron batons, arrived in Mtskheta quickly with two cars.
According to the statement issued by the Prosecutor’s Office, these were the people who ran after Giorgi Shakarashvili, who was walking towards Tbilisi with some of his friends. Some of the young people, who were with Giorgi at the time, got physically abused, but many of them managed to escape. During the confrontation, according to the information known to the public as of now, Shakarashvili disappeared.
The case of the death of the 19-year-old football player Giorgi Shakarashvili is being investigated under four articles: unlawful deprivation of liberty, violence, organizing group violence and premeditated murder committed in a group under aggravating circumstances. 17 people have been sentenced to imprisonment as a measure of restraint. They do not plead guilty.
