Death of Kazakh citizen raises suspicions of a possible sex trafficking network operating in Georgia

On May 6, Georgian prosecutor’s office has detained a suspect in the case of a suicide of a 26-year-old citizen of Kazakhstan Asel Aytpayeva. 57 year-old male named Besik Tordua is currently under investigation on charges of rape and bringing to the suicide of Asel Aytpayeva. The prosecution demanded that the suspect remains in pre-trial detention, and, since he was not represented by a lawyer in court, the defense did not appeal to the court’s ruling.

It is now being reported that Asel Aytpayeva arrived in Georgia in April in order to work at a Georgian-Kazakh car company, where she, allegedly, met Besik Tordua. Asel was sexually, psychologically, and physically abused, and, shortly before jumping out of the window of the 8th floor, managed to record the abuse in an audio message and sent it to her friends. Georgian Rustavi2 TV Channel released a fragment of the recording with the conversation between Asel and an unknown man who verbally abuses her, admits that he raped her, and says that if she wants to throw herself out of the window, she should do so.

The mother of the deceased believes that her daughter did not commit suicide but was murdered. Meanwhile, the leader of the Sapari women’s rights organization, Baia Pataraia believes that a network of sex traffickers could be responsible for this tragic case:

“The investigation must pay attention to all the details and find out whether the accused was sexually exploiting the girl. In the short recording I heard, this man really comes across as a trafficker.”

The trial is expected to continue on June 23; the suspect may facee 8-10 years in prison.