Murder in Gudauri: detainee asks for trial to be heard in front of jury
Jury trials were first introduced in Georgia in 2010 and the first trial using jurors took place in 2011. Photo: IPN.
Tweet 
Share
A jury trial will decide the fate of Merab Kobiashvili, who was detained for murdering Tamaz Gortamashvili and injuring Gortamashvili’s friend, Davit Seturidze, in Georgia’s mountain resort town of Gudauri on February 16, 2020.
A lawyer of the detainee, Tariel Kakabadze, said that Kobiashvili expressed his desire for his case to be decided by a jury.
Police detained Merab Kobiashvili in Gudauri for attempted premeditated murder and for murder under aggravating circumstances.
After the murder, a lawyer of Kobiashvili, Tariel Kakabadze, said that the Prosecutor’s Office has video recordings of Kobiashvili being attacked by six individuals on several occasions and did not allow him to escape.
Kobiashvili did not intend to take revenge for the conflict that started a few days earlier before the murder case. He was defending himself from aggressive attackers with his own firearm… In the video material I saw how the attack continued after the warning shot, how they started to take away the firearm from Kobiashvili. After that they threw Kobiashvili down and continued beating him”, said Kakabadze after the murder case.
Kakabadze also noted that if Kobiashvili intended to kill the participants of the conflict, he could have done so, though he exhibited patience and first refrained from responding to the group attack.
Merab Kobiashvili is participant of Russian-Georgian war. He also served in Afghanistan.
Kakabadze told several media outlets that he is in possession of evidence of how the participants of the conflict deceived tourists and forced them to pay extra money in certain services. Kobiashvili pointed out their unfair behavior which led to the conflict.
Family members of Tazo Gortamashvili told media, that Gortamashvili was trying to neutralize the conflict.
As a result of the conflict, Kobiashvili also had a number of injuries, after which the Prosecutor’s Office charged six individuals for group violence against Merab Kobiashvili.
Jury trials were first introduced in Georgia in 2010 and the first trial using jurors took place in 2011. Under Georgia law, jury trials should apply to all criminal cases in which a person may be deprived of freedom.
The law reads that a defendant has a right to refuse or to ask for a trial.
Gori District Court in eastern Georgia has began a trial regarding the high profile murder case of the Smith family in Georgia in the summer of last year. A verdict for the 19-year old shepherded Malkhaz Kobauri will be delivered by the jury, as the latter is accused of the murder of Ryan Smith, four-year-old Caleb Smith and the rape and murder of Lora Smith.
Malkhaz Kobauri, the 19-year-old Georgian shepherd accused of the brutal murder of American couple Ryan and Lora Smith and their four-year-old son on July 4 in the Khada Gorge, will be judged by jury trial.
Two security guards tending to Georgia’s late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania have been found guilty of negligence, which led to the PM’s death in 2005.
A jury panel will decide the fate of the two security guards of late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who were charged in relation to the leader’s unexplained death.
Georgian jurors have convicted Zaza Murjikneli for the attempted murder of Georgian ex-colonel Dodo Gugeshashvili and the murder of her son, Grigol Gugeshashvili, on February 7, 2018.
Merab Kobiashvili, who had been in pre-trial detention for murdering Tamaz Gortamashvili and injuring Gortamashvili’s friend, David Seturidze, has been released from the courtroom today as the term of his pre-trial detention came to an end and a sufficient number of jurors could not be selected for a jury trial.
The prosecutor general’s office of Georgia will hold simulated jury trials with the support of the United States embassy, the state body announced on Tuesday.