Georgian police have announced new detentions in connection with a murder that took place in central Tbilisi in March. The victim was reportedly a member of the so-called thieves-in-law, a term for the network of mafia in the post-Soviet world.
Among those arrested is Georgian businessperson Giorgi Mikadze who, according to the investigation, ordered Levan Jangveladze’s killing over ‘various issues related to business activities’. Police said acted together with his brother, Davit Mikadze, who will be charged in absentia as he is not currently in Georgia.
In its Tuesday statement, the Interior Ministry referred to the detainees only by their initials, while their identities were reported by local media outlets.
According to the investigation, while preparing the murder, the brothers contacted another person, identified only as G.J., and asked him to find someone to carry out the murder. The task ultimately fell to a member of G.J.’s security team, identified by media outlets as Gela Udzilauri.
The ministry said a total of three people were detained, including Mikadze, a person who allegedly took part in purchasing weapons with G.J., and a witness accused of giving a false testimony and covering up the crime.
In addition, those charged in absentia include both Mikadze’s brother and G.J., who is also outside Georgia.
The opposition-leaning TV Pirveli quoted Mikadze’s lawyer as saying that the businessperson’s detention came as a surprise and that he ‘has absolutely nothing to do with the incident’.
The murder took place in Tbilisi’s upscale Vake district, on one of the city’s main streets, Chavchavadze Avenue, on the evening of 14 March. The victim was 61-year-old Levan Jangveladze, who, according to local media, was the brother of Merab Jangveladze, also known as Merab Sukhumsky.
Both are reportedly high-ranking members of the thieves-in-law, according to historian and transnational crime expert Mark Galeotti.
TV Pirveli has repeatedly reported on the alleged involvement of the Mikadze brothers in the murder. According to the channel, they are associates of Otar Partskhaladze, Georgia’s former prosecutor general who has been under US sanctions since 2025.
Partskhaladze, who holds Russian citizenship, briefly served as Georgia’s general prosecutor in late 2013. He has previously been accused of violence and involvement in extortion on behalf of Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili — who himself is also subject to US sanctions.
According to Pirveli, Jangveladze, who was also a businessperson and lived in Moscow, had come to Tbilisi to attend the wake of a friend and business partner. The channel reported that he was driven to the location by his driver and was accompanied at the time of the murder by another friend. His personal bodyguard was not there at that moment.
Security camera footage shows the killer opening fire on Jangveladze after he left the residential building where his late partner was reportedly lying in repose. Jangveladze’s friend, who was wounded in the shooting, was taken to a clinic.
Udzilauri, whom the Interior Ministry accused of carrying out the murder, was detained shortly after the incident, on 17 March.
Yousef Bardouka
