Ex-President Saakashvili linked to attempted murder case of opposition figure Givi Targamadze

On Friday, the Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office disclosed connections between Mikheil Saakashvili, the former President currently imprisoned, and the attempted murder of his erstwhile associate, Givi Targamadze, which took place in Tbilisi in 2016.

On October 4, 2016, a vehicle carrying Targamadze, a member of the opposition United National Movement party, detonated in central Tbilisi, resulting in injuries to him and two bypassers.

In 2019, the Tbilisi City Court convicted Darcho Khechuashvili, a former employee from Georgia’s Interior Ministry, of attempted murder, property damage, and illegal possession of firearms and explosives, sentencing him to 18 years in absentia. Khechuashvili was apprehended while attempting to enter the country on September 19 of this year.

The Prosecutor General’s Office outlined Khechuashvili’s connections with Shota Chichiashvili, another individual associated with the case. Reports indicate that Chichiashvili met with Saakashvili in Ukraine in 2016 while the latter was serving as the Governor of Odessa. During this encounter, Khechuashvili testified that Saakashvili expressed unease regarding Targamadze’s loyalty, suggesting that he had collaborated with the ruling Georgian Dream party prior to the 2016 Parliamentary elections.

Saakashvili purportedly directed Chichiashvili to keep tabs on Targamadze, who subsequently enlisted Khechuashvili’s help in this surveillance, offering him a favorable position in Odessa as an incentive.

Khechuashvili later communicated Targamadze’s whereabouts at the UNM office in Tbilisi on the day of the explosion, shortly before the incident occurred. After the car explosion, Khechuashvili reportedly fled Georgia illegally into Turkey.