Cop killer sentenced to life imprisonment

A Georgian man who killed a police officer in April this year and wounded several others in separate attacks was sentenced to life imprisonment today by an Akhaltsikhe court in central-southern Georgia. 

Shalva Abuladze was found guilty of the murder of one police officer and the attempted murder of four other police officers. The judge delivered his verdict this afternoon.

Abuladze’s lawyer Shalva Khachapuridze claimed the verdict was unfair and too harsh, as it was unjust to send a person to life behind bars for the murder of one person.

The defence can now appeal the guilty verdict and sentence to a higher court.

In the early part of 2015, Abuladze was convicted for attacking two police officers in Borjomi, central Georgia. After the crime he went into hiding.

A short time later, on April 4, 2015 Abuladze pointed a pistol at two police officers after a scuffle in capital Tbilisi. He fired the weapon and shot dead Georgian District Inspector-Investigator Beka Margishvili and seriously wounded his partner Assistant Detective Valerian Grdzelishvili. 

The two police officers had stopped Abuladze near Varketili Metro Station in outer Tbilisi to determine his identity.

Upon hearing the policemen’s order, Abuladze opened fire in the direction of the police officers and immediately fled the scene.

Immediately after the crime Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibahsvili promised the public that the man responsible for killing a police officer and wounding another would be adequately punished for his heinous act.

Law enforcers arrested Abuladze on April 10 in a special operation in Borjomi, where Abuladze was hiding in an abandoned building. 

Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said the police search of the place in Borjomi where Abuladze was hiding uncovered two handguns and a hand grenade.