The Sandro Girgvliani murder case is one of the most notorious criminal cases in the modern history of Georgia. The killing in January 2006, and the events that followed, generated heavy criticism of the former government, particularly the interior minister, and debate about the extent to which then President Mikheil Saakashvili had truly introduced judicial independence and a democratic culture into Georgian society.
The murder Sandro Girgvliani was found dead on January 28, 2006, on the outskirts of Tbilisi with multiple injuries inflicted as a result of physical abuse. According to an Imedi Television investigation on February 12, the murder of the 28-year-old head of the United Georgian Bank's Foreign Department can be traced to a series of events which developed in Tbilisi's elite Sharden Bar. It is alleged that the Inspector General of Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vasil Sanodze, was holding his birthday party to which the highest members of the department were invited. Tako Salakaia, the wife of the then-Interior Minister and subsequent Prime Minister, Vano Merabishvili, was in attendance, and by chance happened to be a friend of Girgvliani's girlfriend, Tamar Maisuradze. Maisuradze's presence is reportedly the reason for the subsequent victim's fatal visit.
Levan Bukhaidze, Girgvliani's friend, who had accompanied his friend to the bar, claims that a few minutes before the kidnapping took place, the victim had an argument with his girlfriend, who was sitting with the Interior Minister's wife and her companions at the birthday party. In court Maisuradze recalled her dialogue with Girgvliani in the bar, claiming that "He asked why I was sitting with strangers. To this question I answered: that it did not matter who I was with and I asked whether he had come to find out only this. I did not know these people, but they were acquaintances of the girl I had come with.
Whilst Bukhaidze has denied this comment was made, it is clear that Sandro Girgvliani and his friend left the scene, and were reportedly stuffed into a silver Mercedes-Benz ML Class vehicle by unknown men shortly afterwards. They were then taken to Okrokana, on the outskirts of Tbilisi. Girgvliani's friend claims that whilst he was able to escape, Girgvliani was murdered. His body was found close to a nearby cemetery the next morning.
Aftermath At a news conference on February 21, Sandro Girgvliani's mother said that officials from the Interior Ministry "masterminded my son's murder." She demanded an immediate interrogation of those officials from the Interior Ministry who were present at the cafe with Girgvliani. At a subsequent conference on February 22, Member of Parliament (MP) Koba Davitashvili, leader of the Georgian Conservative Party and MP Koka Guntsadze of the Rightist Opposition opposition party, demanded that the authorities immediately investigate the case. They also alleged that Oleg Melnikov, an employee of the Interior Ministry, was among those persons who kidnapped Girgvliani and his friend.
Guram Donadze, told InterPressNews agency on February 21 that he and other officials had already been interrogated. "I will not make further comments while the investigation is on-going", Donadze said, but denied the allegations as 'groundless'. The Minister Vano Merabishvili meanwhile made his first public statement about the case on February 25 and hinted that he was not yet going to sack any of these officials.
On the 28th, MP for the Conservative Party Zviad Dzidziguri convened a press conference and showed an interview with Girgvliani's friend Bukhaidze – an eyewitness. The interview was conducted by MP Dzidziguri himself and, during the footage, Dzidziguri shows Bukhaidze a picture of a young man and asks Bukhaidze to identify this man. Bukhaidze replies that the man in the picture looks very much like one of the four people who beat the two friends after they were abducted. The man in the picture was an Interior Ministry staff-member, Oleg Melnikov. Bukhaidze said he was not 100% sure, but I can say that he looks very much like the man Dzidziguri stressed that. The most important thing with this fact is that the investigators have not shown this picture to Levan Bukhaidze – which further increases doubts about the investigation process.
During parliamentary hearings on February 28, Merabishvili said that the investigation has not yet revealed any facts which could cause the dismissal of those officials who were mentioned in the Imedi report. He also said that allegations to link officials to the case are "attempts to discredit the police.... There are attempts to link this case to my family members as well. This is done deliberately to get on my nerves."
Whilst the Minister was in the midst of a speech at the hearing, opposition parliamentarians from the Rightist Opposition, Republican, Conservative and Democratic Front factions walked out of the chamber to protest against Merabishvili, and the possibly partisan investigation.
Parliamentarians from the ruling National Movement party, however thanked Merabishvili for the performance of his department, with MP Givi Targamadze saying that "The opposition’s walk-out was just a stage show. They are speculating over the Girgvliani murder case and they are trying to use it for their own political interests, which is absolutely inadmissible". After the hearings, the opposition parliamentarians called for Merabishvili's resignation. Davit Gamkrelidze claimed that "It has become clear today that Merabishvili is trying to cover-up criminals sitting in the Interior Ministry. We, the opposition, society, should launch activities directed towards ensuring the dismissal of Merabishvili,"
Scandal widens On March 5, events began to gather pace as Imedi television broadcast another report questioning the official version of the death of a former anti-drug policeman, Gia Telia. The programme indicated that some officials from the Interior Ministry could have been involved in the killing of Mr Telia. The former policeman, who retired in 2003, was killed in a clash with the Interior Ministry's Special Operations Department (SOD) on February 16, 2006. According to the Ministry, Telia, a suspected drug dealer, was killed by police after he opened fire.
The Ministry's press office distributed a video of the operation to the national television networks showing the body of Telia lying on the floor of his apartment holding a pistol in his right hand. However, in an interview with Imedi television, relatives of Telia claim that he would not hold a gun in his right hand as he was left-handed. Additionally they claimed that Telia had alleged that certain officials from the Ministry wanted 'to get rid of him' because of information he possessed about their possible involvement in drug trafficking. In a 2005 interview the former police officer claimed the police had unsuccessfully tried to arrest him under fabricated charges. He was then attacked and injured by a gunshot. In the interview Telia did not name the officials from the Interior Ministry who were apparently interested in his elimination, but speculated that Irakli Kodua, Chief of the Interior Ministry's Special Operations Department (SOD), 'was ordered' to organize his assassination.
At the same time several opposition groupings, including the Rightist Opposition and Georgian Labour Party, announced their intention to launch street protests against the government in an attempt to force Vano Merabishvili to resign.
Arrests On March 6 Vano Merabishvili announced that four officers - Gia Alania, Avtandil Aptsiauri, Aleksandre Gachava and Mikheil Bibiluri - from the Interior Ministry had been arrested on suspicion of killing Sandro Girgvliani. The minister gave no motive for the crime but stated that he had "evidence proving that they have committed this crime". The names of the four men had not been mentioned in the report, aired by Imedi television on February 12.
Shortly after the arrests were announced MPs from the New Rights and Democratic Front parliamentary faction's convened a news conference. They said that the arrest of the Interior officials was "a good precedent". However Koba Davitashvili of the Democratic Front added that "the major part of the investigation is still ahead. Not only should those who committed the crime be held responsible, but also those who ordered it." The parliamentarians again called for Merabishvili's resignation.
Dismissal and widening criticism On March 7 Guram Donadze one of the men at the centre of the murder was unexpectedly fired. The official reason behind Donadze's dismissal was due to 'conflicting relations' with a number of journalists. MPs from the Rightist Opposition and Democratic Front then demanded that the Interior Minister, Vano Merabishvili, sack the Chief of the Department of Constitutional Security, Data Akhalaia and arrest Akhalaia's deputy Oleg Melnikov for his alleged active participation in the beating of Girgvliani. The ruling National Movement, responded by announcing their 'clear-cut support' towards Merabishvili and branded the opposition as 'closely incorporated into the criminal world'.
At this point the influential former foreign minister and leader of the Georgia's Way political party, Salome Zourabichvili, announced her intention to work with the opposition parties regarding Girgvliani's murder. Speaking to Civil Georgia she said "... spare no efforts over this issue – be it street rallies, media statements, etc. Because, if a syndrome of fear appears, if the guilty are not punished... if there is no court, then we move towards a totalitarian regime."
Flaws in witness statements Levan Bukhaidze, a key witness and the friend of Sandro Girgvliani, on March 9 revealed that he had failed on the same day to identify Oleg Melnikov, amongst four people during a police lineup. However he later told Imedi television that this did not mean that the official was not amongst the men who brutally beat him and his friend on January 27. Bukhaidze went on to question the testimony of Gia Alana, one of the detained suspects, who claimed that he met with Girgvliani while the latter was coming out of the Sheredan café on the 27th. Alania says that he and his accompanying colleagues overheard Girgvliani verbally insult Donadze, irritating Alania and triggered a dispute between himself and the victim. Bukhaidze strongly denied this and claimed that no dispute had taken place after he and his friend left the café.
Despite Bukhaidze's failure to identify Oleg Melnikov, a statement made by Girgvliani's girlfriend, Tamar Maisuradze, hinted at Melnikov's possible involvement. She claimed that Melnikov left the café, under the pretext to buy a cigarette, immediately after Bukhaidze and Girgvliani went out. He allegedly returned only after around 40 minutes, with Maisuradze going on to say that this was explained by the fact that he had travelled to a distant supermarket after being unable to buy the cigarettes he wanted at a nearby shop. "I have watched security video of that very same supermarket but I have not seen Melnikov entering it", she added.
Condemnation and resignation In a statement issued on March 13 the Georgian Ombudsman Sozar Subari said that investigation of Sandro Girgvliani murder case was "a serious test for the government". He said that so far the only answer he had received from the authorities regarding the investigation of the case was that "there are punitive teams within the Interior Ministry, which are above of laws and which can liquidate any person in case of will."
Sozar Subari's statement also said that the arrest of the four officers, "failed to remove doubts" persisting in the society regarding the murder case. "Those officials, who are suspected by society of having links with this case, would have been resigned in any democratic state, or in a state which has an ambition to be a democratic".