Georgian President and public defender meet with protest leader

Crowds have gathered in front of Tbilisi parliament building downtown today to express support to Zaza Saralidze, the father of one of two teenage boys killed in Tbilisi in December 2017.

The court verdict on the murder case of the two teenagers was announced yesterday and failed to identify the actual killer of 16-year-old David Saralidze, who died from multiple knife wounds.

The father’s protest resulted in the resignation of the Georgian Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze on May 31 however the protest rally continues today.

The parents of other children dead or missing have united today to speak publicly about their cases and how they are seeking justice.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili met with Zaza Saralidze earlier today to express his support for a fair investigation. The one on one meeting was focused on the details of the investigation and continued about an hour.

''I will spare no efforts for Georgia to be a country where everyone finds justice and stability,'' President said. Photo: President's press office.

"First of all, obviously, I have shared the pain that has filled up Zaza Saralidze’s heart and touched many people,” President said.

"Secondly, my goal is to be in touch with Zaza and other people sharing this grief in order to ensure a calm, peaceful and stable process and peace in the country. For this reason, obviously, I will be communicating with the government. I will spare no efforts for Georgia to be a country where everyone finds justice and stability,” underlined Margvelashvili, commenting his visit to protesters for the media.

Georgia’s Public Defender Nino Lomjaria also met with Zaza Saralidze to discuss his demands and expectations.

The Public Defender's Office has been actively monitoring the investigation of the case from the very beginning. Lomjaria has attended the closed trials and she will be able to familiarise herself with the case materials since the court has already declared the verdict.

She said that she would proactively study the case within her mandate in order to establish how objective, thorough and fair the investigation was, whether there were violations and misconduct and what served as grounds for the Prosecutor’s Office to establish that only two persons were involved in the crime.