Jailed ex-investment fund chief Bachiashvili denies staging prison attack

Giorgi Bachiashvili, the former head of Georgia’s Co-Investment Fund and an ally-turned-rival of billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has rejected claims by the penitentiary service that he had staged his own beating in prison.

Bachiashvili, who is serving an 11-year sentence in a high-profile cryptocurrency fraud case involving Ivanishvili, said the authorities were trying to “cover up one crime with another fabrication”.

“As I could not have been near the so-called ‘green border’, where they claimed I was arrested, I could not possibly have organised an attack against myself either,” he said in comments relayed by his lawyer, Davit Jandieri.

He warned that officials might attempt to place acquaintances of his in the same cell to increase pressure on him, and stressed that any communication with him should take place only through his legal team.

The penitentiary service announced on Thursday that circumstances surrounding the 11 July incident in Gldani prison raised suspicions of staging. The agency said some staff and inmates may have colluded with Bachiashvili, and questioned the motivation behind placing another prisoner, K. Metreveli, in his cell.

Bachiashvili’s lawyers previously said he was assaulted by a cellmate and required hospital treatment before being returned to custody. In a letter published last month, he claimed he had earlier been pressured by prison officials to disclose details of his bank accounts and cryptocurrency holdings to Ivanishvili.

The businessman was convicted in absentia in March 2025 of misappropriating more than $39m in cryptocurrency and laundering illicit funds. His 11-year sentence, the maximum available under the charges, was upheld by the appeals court earlier this month.

Bachiashvili insists he was abducted abroad and forcibly returned to Georgia in May, contradicting the state security service’s account that he was detained while attempting to cross into Georgia illegally. His international legal team has alleged that he faces torture and politically motivated prosecution.

The case against him was launched in 2023 following a complaint by Ivanishvili, Georgia’s former prime minister who currently serves the ruling party honorary chair.