One more minor charged in high-profile murder case of teenagers

A pupil of Public School No. 51 identified as D.G. has been charged today for giving false testimony in court, concerning the high-profile murder case of two teenage boys in central Tbilisi last year.

The lawyer of the detainee says that the charge is wrong as D.G. revealed all he knew in court.

The father of one of the murdered boys, Zaza Saralidze, who has organised large-scale rallies in Tbilisi calling for a fair investigation into the case, has welcomed the charge and stated that all those who saw the fatal incident and did not help law enforcers detain all alleged offenders should be held accountable.

D.G. was my son’s friend and it was because of him that the brawl started between the boys. He gave a truthful testimony to the investigation, but changed the testimony in court. He was either threatened, bribed or he just decided not to tell the truth because of his mentality and attitude,” Saralidze said.

Deputy Interior Minister Natia Mezvrishvili did not exclude the detention of others for the case if trustworthy evidence were to emerge.

Two 16-year-old boys were stabbed to death in a school brawl in Tbilisi on December 1, 2017. Davit Saralidze died in hospital due to multiple wounds in his back, while Levan Dadunashvili died immediately. 

The court has sentenced two teenagers so far. An individual identified as G.B. was sentenced to ten years and six months for the premeditated murder of Dadunashvili while G.J. to nine years and nine months for the attempted murder of David Saralidze. 

Since the court verdict failed to identify the actual killer of David Saralidze his father Zaza Saralidze started a protest rally in the end of May demanding the government hold accountable the actual killers.

The rallies led to the resignation of Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze and the return of the case to the supervision of the Interior Ministry. One individual, a former official of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, whom Saralidze believed to have hindered the investigation process and helped "other offenders” walk free, was also detained last month.