Court of Appeals upholds verdict, sentences one to 11 years in prison in high-profile murder case of minors

Court of Appeals has upheld the verdict of Tbilisi City Court earlier today and found Mikheil Kalandia, age 20, guilty of the premeditated murder of David Saralidze in the high-profile murder case of two minors in Tbilisi in a school brawl back in 2017.

The court delivered the verdict after three-month discussions.

Kalandia was sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, when the incident took place in 2017, he was minor and the sentence was decreased to 11 years and three months.

Kalandia’s family claims that the case has ‘political grounds’ and that Kalandia is innocent. 

In his previous statements Luka Kalandia, brother of Mikheil Kalandia, accused Saralidze’s father of ‘making deals with state officials to send his brother to prison,’ with Saralidze responding that he ‘only wanted to see the killers of my son punished.’

In 2019 Tbilisi Court of Appeals convicted another adult, G.J, for the premeditated murder of Sarlidze and also sentenced him to 11 years and three months in prison.

The court said that time that G.J. committed the crime with ‘other, unidentified individuals.’

• Court sends fourth to prison for Khorava street murder of teenagers in Tbilisi

The City Court verdict  in 2018 on the murder case of David Saralidze and Levan Dadunashvili caused controversy as the court verdict failed to say who killed Saralidze.

One of the detainees, G.B., was found guilty for the premeditated murder of Dadunashvili, while another detainee G.J. was found guilty for the attempted murder of David Saralidze.

The verdict led to street rallies and the resignation of then Chief Prosecutor of Georgia Irakli Shotadze.