Georgia investigates beating of Giorgi Bachiashvili: Penitentiary system leadership resigns

The Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia has presented a report on the case of beating of former head of the Co-Investment Fund Giorgi Bachiashvili. Recall that the incident occurred on July 11 in prison #8, where he was placed in the same cell with prisoner Kakha Metreveli. A conflict arose between them, which ended with an attack on Bachiashvili.

The agency confirmed that a criminal case has been opened on the fact of the incident under Article 126 of the Criminal Code of Georgia - "violence". At the same time, the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Justice initiated an internal investigation, since during the inspection, signs of possible violations by employees of the penitentiary service were revealed.

The text says that disciplinary proceedings were initiated on August 19. Investigators questioned the prison administration, the service employees, Bachiashvili and Metreveli themselves, as well as other prisoners who could have been involved in the conflict. During the interrogations, circumstances emerged indicating that some employees and prisoners dependent on them could have acted in concert. In addition, the motivation for the decision to place Metreveli in the same cell with Bachiashvili is also questionable.

Given these facts and the ongoing investigation, the authorities believed that keeping the managers in their positions could affect the objectivity of the investigation, the department said in a statement. As a result, the head of Prison No. 8, David Gogoberishvili, and the deputy director of the Department of Corrections, Giorgi Kemoklidze, resigned.

Earlier, the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the Tbilisi City Court, which sentenced the former general director of the Co-Investment Fund, Giorgi Bachiashvili, to 11 years in prison. The charges relate to the misappropriation of cryptocurrency belonging to oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Bachiashvili was sentenced to 10 years for misappropriation of funds and 11 years for legalization of illegal income (money laundering). In Georgia, the principle of adding up sentences has been abolished, so a more severe punishment is applied - 11 years in prison.

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