Court denies bail in 2022 case of minor’s death in Tbilisi park electrocution incident

Two individuals, including the former Head of Tbilisi City Hall’s Environmental Protection Service, were on Monday denied bail by Tbilisi City Court in the case that led to the death of a minor in an electrocution incident in Tbilisi’s Vake Park in October.

Local media said Giga Gigashvili, a former employee of the Service, and Vakhtang Londaridze, a Specialist of the company Expertise, Construction, Design, had been denied bail, after lawyers for the former requested a ₾26,064 ($10,000) bail or cancellation of preventive detention, and the defence team for the latter asked for a 5,000 ($1,918) bail.

Gigashvili was charged with professional neglect in the case, while Londaridze faced charges of forgery of documents relating to a renovation work on the infrastructure in the popular recreational park, where three minors received electric shock as they stepped into the water of a newly renovated fountain where an exposed electrical cable had been left unattended.

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The minors were attempting to retrieve a ball that had fallen into water, with the injuries they received leading to the death of the 13-year-old Marita Meparishvili.

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Georgia on Sunday revealed LTD Green Service plus - a contractor for the renovation work - as well as the company Expertise, Construction, Design, and inspection body Mshen-Expert had been charged in the case.

The Office said the conclusions of the engineering and technical verification of the renovation results and “other evidence” had confirmed the project submitted by Green Service plus to the City Hall “did not comply with the safety rules for the arrangement of electrical equipment” in the area.