‘There was a pool of blood in the cell’ — Ivanishvili’s ex-aide Bachiashvili says he was brutally beaten in prison
Businessperson Giorgi Bachiashvili — a former ally and now an outspoken opponent of Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili — has said he was brutally beaten in prison in Tbilisi. Bachiashvili had been in custody since late May, following what he described as a forced return from exile.
In a letter shared with the media on Monday by Bachiashvili’s lawyer, Davit Jandieri, Bachiashvili said that the beating was preceded by a conversation with the prison director, Davit Gogoberishvili, three days earlier.
During that conversation, Gogoberishvili allegedly advised him to disclose his bank account information, cryptocurrency transactions, and wallet addresses to Ivanishvili. The businessperson is serving an 11-year sentence in prison on charges of embezzling bitcoin allegedly belonging to Ivanishvili.
Bachiashvili stated that he refused the request, and three days later — on 11 July — an unidentified individual entered his cell, where he had been held alone for a week. The person first insulted him and ultimately began to beat him.
‘He was punching me, wrestling me, biting my shoulder until it bled […] There was a glass tea cup in the cell […] which he took and smashed over my head, after which I fell to my knees and briefly lost consciousness. When I came to, the person continued beating me […]’, the letter read.
He also stated that the attacker inflicted a cut on his wrist with the broken glass and repeatedly slammed his head against the wall.
The businessperson also said that during the attack, a prison staff member opened the cell window, but after the attacker ordered him to close it, he ‘immediately obeyed and shut the window’. According to Bachiashvili, the staff member later returned to the cell and this time escorted the attacker out.
‘There was a pool of blood in the cell, and the walls were stained with blood too. I requested a meeting with the prison chief. About 10 minutes later, the prison chief came to me and took me to the on-duty surgeon’, Bachiashvili added.
According to him, after receiving medical assistance on-site, he was transferred to a civilian clinic. However, neither at the prison, in the ambulance, nor at the clinic was he allowed to use a phone to contact his lawyer or the Public Defender.
According to him, he received three stitches on his head and one on his wrist at the clinic, and the bite wound on his shoulder was also treated. He said he had a split lip, a swollen eye and cheek area, and a broken tooth on his lower jaw.
Unable to get up from the bed, the businessperson persistently continued to request access to a phone, after which a prison guard ‘forcibly escorted’ him back to the prison. He was only able to make a phone call after declaring a hunger strike.
Bachiashvili linked the incident to an attempt of intimidation and forcible seizure of his property.
According to the letter, during the conversation on 8 July, Gogoberishvili told him, ‘Giorgi, you’re not in a position to set conditions; you know all kinds of people are in prison — both crazy and less crazy’. However, Bachiashvili said the conversation had a ‘friendly tone’ and at that moment he did not perceive it as a threat.
The businessman also said that after the fighting the prison chief told him the attacker was a convicted inmate who had been placed in the cell on his orders, and that he ‘didn’t know he would get into a fight’.
‘However, by then everything was clear to me — this was the execution of a threat’, Bachiashvili added.
Following media reports about Bachiashvili’s beating, the Special Penitentiary Service released a statement claiming that the incident was a confrontation between two inmates — Bachiashvili and another individual — during which both sustained injuries.
‘Regarding the above-mentioned incident, the relevant investigative unit of the Ministry of Justice is conducting an investigation’, the statement read.
The Penitentiary Service accused certain media outlets of ‘biased’ coverage of the incident and warned that ‘defamatory statements’ made with the aim of ‘discrediting the Penitentiary Service’ would be met with a response.
Responding to the reports, the human rights organisation Amnesty International called for ‘an independent investigation into his allegations’.
On 27 May, the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) said that Bachiashvili had been detained near the Georgia-Armenia border, after more than two and a half months of his announcement of a secret departure from the country.
The businessperson was charged in two separate cases, including the alleged embezzlement of Ivanishvili’s cryptocurrency. However, Bachiashvili denied the charges, claiming the case was politically motivated and linked to his fallout with Ivanishvili.
After his arrest, Bachiashvili rejected the SSG’s version of events, claiming that on 24 May he was abducted abroad, blindfolded, placed on a Georgian Airways flight, and forcibly brought back to Georgia. According to him, this was done on the direct orders of Ivanishvili.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze neither confirmed nor denied Bachiashvili’s account but stated that ‘even theoretically, if such an operation were to take place, it would still be within the bounds of the law’.
Bachiashvili served as the general director of the Georgian Co-Investment Fund — founded by Ivanishvili in 2013 shortly after coming to power — until 2019, when he moved to the position of chair of the fund’s advisory board.
Once close partners, their paths diverged in recent years, accompanied by investigations against the businessperson. Announcing his departure in March, Bachiashvili said he made the decision due to security risks, adding that he would be ‘completely defenceless’ in prison.
Yousef Bardouka
