Two more minors detained in fatal beating of Georgian tutor, as family questions investigation
Two more minors have been detained by Georgian authorities for their alleged involvement in the fatal beating of 28-year-old Giga Avaliani, bringing the total number of detained children up to four. This came amidst protests by the victim’s family, who argue that the investigation has been ineffective.
The two minors whose ages have not been disclosed were arrested on charges of failing to report the beating, which resulted in Avaliani’s death on 24 October.
The Prosecutor General’s Office announced the arrests on 20 December, recounting that two minors were already in detention as part of the case.
The agency established that one of the teenagers punched Avaliani in the forehead, while the other filmed the attack. Avaliani immediately fell to the ground and lost consciousness, and later died on 24 October of his injuries.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said that the minor who had attacked Avaliani had done so out of jealousy, noting that Avaliani had been in touch with his girlfriend. The girl reportedly studied with Avaliani as her tutor.
The agency said that one person had been charged with intentionally causing grave harm to someone’s health, resulting in their death.
The latest arrests took place amidst mounting public interest in the case and as Avaliani’s family continued protesting, demanding the proper investigation of the killing. They considered the incident a premeditated group crime.
‘I now have to defend [my] dead [son], Giga. From whom? From the state. Shame on this state’, the victim’s mother, Eka Kupatadze, said at a protest held outside the Prosecutor General’s Office on 22 December. She believes the additional detentions came as a result of her announcement to hold wider protests a few days earlier.
Kupatadze has repeatedly posted emotional videos about her son’s murder, calling for the perpetrators to be punished, drawing widespread public attention and sympathy. According to her, she initially trusted the prosecutors completely, but they had ‘deceived’ her.
The family demands investigators establish the group nature of the crime and reclassify the charges as premeditated murder committed by a group, as well as detain all individuals linked to the case and grant the family full access to the case materials.
‘I quote Prosecutor Luka Gamkrelidze’s words: “It was a simple case, you shouldn’t have shouted” […] Giga Avaliani’s life was not simple, and I will not let this end so simply’, Kupatadze said while addressing the rally.
‘Until every prosecutor sits in the dock alongside the murderers, I will not back down’, she added.
According to RFE/RL, the family accused the Prosecutor General’s Office of failing to properly collect evidence and attempting to ‘cover it up’, as well as doubting the version that Avaliani was struck only with a fist.
The family gave the Prosecutor General’s Office a deadline of 8 January to respond to their demands, warning that they would otherwise organise larger-scale protests.
The protest on 22 December followed a failed meeting between members of the Avaliani family and the Tbilisi Prosecutor. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the family were asked to put their phones away in a storage cabinet in accordance with its internal regulations, which they reportedly refused on the grounds that ‘they could not trust the Prosecutor’s Office with their mobile phones’.
Later, during the protest, several representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office came out of the building and told the family they could bring in their phones, but the family declined to meet.
‘What am I supposed to expect from a meeting today, when the Prosecutor’s Office had all of this and yet we’ve come to this point?’, asked the victim’s uncle, Irakli Kupatadze, while addressing the officials, pointing to the investigation’s alleged ineffectiveness. He also questioned why the case had not been investigated as a group crime.
In a statement released after the protest, the Prosecutor General’s Office said that, ‘both in the interest of the victim’s side and given the specifics of investigating cases involving minors’, the agency ‘has so far refrained from commenting on the factual circumstances of the case’.
‘The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia reiterates its readiness to meet with the victim’s side at any time and provide a detailed explanation of each investigative action, the legal classification of the actions of those detained based on these actions, and, where evidence and legal grounds exist, to hold other individuals criminally accountable’, the statement added.
Regarding the case materials the Prosecutor’s Office said that the family’s lawyer, Darejan Sulashvili, was provided access to the materials a total of seven times. They explained that they rejected the Avaliani family’s demands to take hold of the case files, citing the ‘risk of disclosure of case materials, respectively, to protect the interests of the investigation and taking into account the juvenile justice code’.
According to RFE/RL, the family has refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement, expressing interest in the case being conducted with publicity and transparency.
Given the age of the detainees, if found guilty, they will be subject to the Juvenile Justice Code, which means their potential sentences could be reduced by 25%.
Nate Ostiller
