10:41, 25 July 2019

Tbilisi court starts considering case of person accused of killing schoolboy

Zaza Saralidze (in the center). Photo by Inna Kukudjanova for the "Caucasian Knot"

The trial of Mikhail Kalandiya, accused of killing a schoolboy in Tbilisi, takes place behind closed doors. The defence claimed no proofs of his guilt, but the court extended his arrest.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Kalandiya was detained on June 4, 2019, while trying to leave Tbilisi. After new proofs appeared of his involvement in the crime, investigators accused him of killing a schoolboy in Tbilisi.

Two teenagers died on December 1, 2017, from wounds received in a brawl. Suspicions that investigators could shelter perpetrators provoked mass protests, forcing Irakli Shotadze, the then General Public Prosecutor of Georgia, to resign.

Let us note here that Kalandiya is accused under the article of "a group murder by prior conspiracy under aggravating circumstances", which assumes from 13 to 17 years of imprisonment.

Earlier, Zaza Saralidze, the father of one of the assassinated schoolboys, stated that the investigating commission of the Georgian Parliament failed its mission of revealing his son's murderer.

Let us remind you that on November 10, 2018, Merab Morchadze, a former high-ranking official of the Georgian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO), was found guilty of having inclined witnesses to change his testimonies in favour of one of the defendants, who is his relative. The court sentenced Morchadze to conditional imprisonment.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 24, 2019 at 05:45 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Inna Kukudjanova

Source: CK correspondent