Sergo Shubitidze, a former investigator in a high profile case of death of Tamar Bachaliashvili, a 23-year-old IT specialist who was dead in her car in 2020, on Tuesday refused to appear in Tbilisi prosecutor’s office following his claims in a domestic channel over his “mistrust” to official suicide version.  

His lawyer told the media the employee of the country’s interior ministry was ready for questioning only in the court, in presence of a judge. 

The Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office on Tuesday said Shubitidze had been summoned for questioning  following his interview with the domestic, opposition-minded Formula channel last week in which he contradicted an official conclusion of the body on suicide in Bachaliashvili’s case. 

In his comments the former investigator in the specific case, claimed he did not trust the version of suicide after seeing Bachaliashvili’s body, following the law enforcement officers found her in a forest in western Georgia after a five-day search, adding he did not wish to “carry the burden alone”. 

The prosecutor’s office said it launched investigation for falsifying of evidence following the claims and stressed Shubitidze had interrogated only three witness out of 600 and conducted a minor work in contrast with the about 1,000 investigative procedures performed by the office before releasing its conclusion on suicide in December 2020. 

Bachaliashvili’s family claims the 23-year-old was “murdered” following her connections with unidentified, “dangerous people '' and coming across with classified information.