A man’s body was found in a car near the building of Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) in Tbilisi. The SSG confirmed that the individual was one of its employees, while the Prosecutor General’s Office has launched an investigation.
Initial reports about a body being found in a Hyundai Tucson spread on Monday afternoon, soon followed by a comment from the State Security Service (SSG), first published by the pro-government channel Rustavi 2.
‘This person was a highly experienced and decent employee of the [SSG’S] Anti-Corruption Agency who was greatly loved by everyone’, the SSG’s press office said in a comment later shared with other outlets, including OC Media.
The brief statement also noted that the deceased had undergone bariatric surgery abroad several months earlier, ‘had lost dozens of kilograms, and had experienced certain health problems as a result’. It remains unclear whether the agency links this information in any way to the person’s death.
According to the SSG, ‘based on what is currently emerging and what we know from employees’, the individual arrived at work early in the morning, ‘apparently took a weapon, left the premises, and was later found dead in his car with a gunshot wound’.
The agency said ‘a note was left on the passenger seat of the vehicle’, without specifying the contents of the note.
‘These are only the preliminary details known to us at this stage. Further details will be determined by the investigation’, it concluded.
Later, the Prosecutor General’s Office also issued a statement, noting that ‘a firearm that the deceased had with him, as well as a note found on the adjacent seat’, were seized from the scene. The investigation has been launched on charges of incitement to suicide.
As initial reports of the incident were emerging, the opposition-leaning TV Formula said its journalist was confronted while working near the SSG building — her phone was taken, footage recorded at the scene was deleted, and she was threatened with detention.
