Two to be charged over 2015 group murder of Giorgi Kvaratskhelia

Georgia’s Prosecutor General's Office on Thursday announced that the 2015 murder of Giorgi Kvaratskhelia has been solved and that two people will be charged with committing the killing as a group.

An investigation conducted by the Interior Ministry under prosecutorial supervision established that Davit Dekanosidze and Tornike Kacharava allegedly decided to take revenge on Kvaratskhelia and kill him following an earlier dispute involving Kacharava's brother.

Investigators alleged that on 25 December 2015, Kacharava and Dekanosidze, armed with illegally acquired firearms, went to Kvaratskhelia's residential building on Guram Panjikidze Street in Tbilisi.

At around 8:36 p.m., the suspects allegedly fired multiple shots at Kvaratskhelia while he was in the courtyard. He was taken to hospital but later died from his injuries.

Kacharava will be formally charged while in a penitentiary institution, while Dekanosidze will be charged in absentia under Article 109 of Georgia's Criminal Code for intentional murder committed by a group. The offence carries a sentence of up to 17 years in prison.

Prosecutors will ask the court to order pre-trial detention for both suspects, while Dekanosidze will be placed on the wanted list.