Three convicted for a residential apartment collapse in Batumi, killing nine

Three individuals, an owner of a flat on the first floor and two workers were sentenced to four and three years in prison on Tuesday for a collapse of one section of a residential block of flats in Batumi last year, killing nine.

The owner of the flat, Zaur Budagov, was sentenced to four years in prison, while workers,  father and son Khusein and Giorgi Surmanidze, were sentenced to three years in prison each.

The lawyer said that charges against Budagov were “groundless,” as the collapse was caused by “illegal constructions” in the same block of flats and not by the renovation work in Budagov’s property.

The Prosecutor’s Office said that per the report of experts, the collapse was caused by the removal of a bearing wall during the renovation work in Budagov’s apartment.