Georgia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has brought additional charges against the minors implicated in the high-profile case of Giga Avaliani, a tutor killed in Tbilisi in October 2025. The new charges are related to their alleged involvement in other violent acts that were not previously known.
Providing a case update on Tuesday, the agency said that during the investigation into Avaliani’s murder, additional criminal incidents came to light involving three of the four minors arrested in the case.
Avaliani, 28, was attacked on 1 October 2025 and died three weeks later at a clinic in Tbilisi. According to the investigators, the assault was premeditated by three minors — Giorgi Rikadze, Aleksandre Gabashvili, and Demetre Chikhovani — after Gabashvili received a call from a female friend who said that Avaliani, with whom she was taking private math lessons, had been showing her ‘excessive attention’. The Prosecutor General’s Office noted the plan was carried out by Rikadze and Gabashvili.
On Tuesday, prosecutors said that the ongoing investigation revealed the three had allegedly committed other crimes in the past, specifically singling out people they considered ‘undesirable’ and then brutally assaulting them.
‘Giorgi Rikadze, Demetre Chikhovani, Aleksandre Gabashvili, and others used various means of communication to contact selected victims while posing as girls, luring them outside and arranging meetings at pre-selected times and locations. They would then ambush the victims and physically assault them as a group, subjecting them to ruthless beatings and verbal abuse’, the agency noted.
The Prosecutor General’s Office added that the group ‘recorded the assaults on camera, stored the footage of the violence on their mobile phones, and shared it within targeted groups’. The agency cited four violent episodes as examples, which took place over the course of 2025, including one in September, shortly before the attack on Avaliani.
Alongside the briefing, the agency also released videos allegedly showing violent acts committed by the three minors.
Following the statement, RFE/RL asked the agency whether any victims from previous incidents had reported the minors to law enforcement. The Prosecutor General’s Office responded that the investigation was ongoing and that they could not comment on the details at this stage.
According to investigators, the uncovering of other alleged crimes led to additional criminal charges being filed against all three individuals. They are now accused of organising and participating in group actions, accompanied by acts of violence.
Regarding Avaliani’s case specifically, Gabashvili has been charged with intentionally inflicting serious health harm that caused death; Rikadze is facing the same charge; and Chikhovani is accused of preparing to intentionally inflict bodily harm as part of a group. A fourth detainee is charged with failing to report a particularly serious crime.
The investigation into Avaliani’s murder was accompanied by protests from his family, including his mother, Eka Kupatadze, who argued that the inquiry was incomplete. Several demonstrations were held outside the Prosecutor General’s Office, demanding an effective investigation, including recognition of the group component of the crime.
Yousef Bardouka
Amidst the family’s protests, the Prosecutor General’s Office filed additional charges against some of those detained in Avaliani’s case and provided the family with the case materials.
In response to Tuesday’s briefing, Kupatadze posted an emotional video on Facebook, thanking the Prosecutor’s Office and asking why the families of the other victims remained silent.
‘If someone had spoken up, my child would still be alive! To the parents of those beaten people — why did you stay silent? Your silence killed my bright child’, she said.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
