The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia filed charges against persons arrested in the case of Vake Park tragedy. The relevant statement was made at a briefing at the General Prosecutor's Office of Georgia.

In relation to the incident in Vake Park, the Prosecutor's Office charged nine persons, including the company Greenservice+ head Lasha Purtsvanidze and deputy head of Environmental Protection Service of Tbilisi City Hall Giorgi Vakhtangashvili, with the facts of official indifference, indifference committed in the enterprise, violation of the safety rule during work, which led to the loss of human life, and the facts of making, inciting the making, using and using of a false official document.

The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia expresses its condolences to the family, relatives and friends of Marita Meparishvili due to the gravest tragic incident in Vake Park.

"At the initial stage of the investigation, charges were filed against the deputy head of Environmental Protection Service of Tbilisi City Hall, the director of Greenservice+ LLC, the contractor of the same company and one employee, the subcontractor firm of Greenservice + LLC - New Metal Design representative, two craftsmen hired by New Metal Design and the director and expert of Mshen-expert LLC.

Two criminal episodes were identified within the ongoing investigation at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. First: on October 22, 2021, between the Service of Environmental Protection of the City Hall of Tbilisi Municipality and Greenservice+, an agreement on state procurement was signed, the subject of which was the rehabilitation works of fountains and cascades in the area of ​​Vake Park in Tbilisi.

On August 26, 2022, the parties signed an act of acceptance and handover, by which the Environmental Protection Service of the City Hall accepted the works performed on the central fountain.

After this, in September 2022, despite the fact that the rehabilitation works on the central fountain were completed, the deputy head of the Environmental Protection Service of the City Hall, the project manager of Greenservice+ verbally requested that some additional works be carried out on the central fountain, namely wrapping the black water pipes connected to the electric motor with stainless white tin material.

The project manager of Greenservice+ informed the director of Greenservice+ about this, and on his instructions, the mentioned work was ordered to the representative of the subcontractor firm New Metal Design. The latter, in turn, assigned the work to two craftsmen hired by New Metal Design. The supervision and control of the work was to be carried out by the contractor of Greenservice+.

On September 22, in the morning hours, the above-mentioned craftsmen arrived at the central fountain, brought the wrapping tin material and started working on it.

In the course of the work, the craftsmen violated the safety norms of the work production, in particular, in order to fit the stainless tin on the water pipes, they removed the metal grid for wrapping the electric motor, and when fixing it back, they inserted a high-voltage electric cable between the concrete surface and the metal grid. Because of this, the insulation of the electric cable was damaged and the current leaked into the water.

The director of Greenservice+ presented the completed work to the City Service without conducting an appropriate inspection, and the deputy head of the Environmental Protection Service of the City Hall accepted the said work without an appropriate inspection.

On the other hand, the representative of the subcontractor firm of Greenservice+ did not verify the work performed by the craftsmen hired by them. Meanwhile, the producer of the works of Greenservice+ did not provide appropriate control over the said activity.

If the mentioned persons had performed their duties properly, the fact of damage to the electric wire would have been detected and the result would have been avoided.

On October 13, 2022, teenagers who came to the territory of Vake Park, during the game, accidentally dropped the ball into the fountain pool. Andria Lortkipanidze and Lazare Lobzhanidze, who went into the water to retrieve the ball, got electric shock from the current passing through the water from the damaged cable, as a result of which they became incapacitated and fell into the pool. Marita Meparishvili went to the pool to help her friends, she also received an electrical injury, as a result of which she became incapacitated. Devi Mezurnishvili, the gardener of Vaki Park, who was nearby, took the children out of the pool, after which they were taken to medical facilities.

Marita Meparishvili died in the hospital from the injuries sustained as a result of the incident. Andria Lortkifanidze and Lazare Lobzhanidze received health injuries.

On the mentioned episode, the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia charged the deputy head of the Service of Environmental Protection of Tbilisi City Hall under Article 342, Part 2 (official indifference, which caused loss of human life); the director of Greenservice+ under the 2nd part of Article 220 Prima (indifference that caused the loss of human life); the manager of the case of Greenservice+ and the representative of New Metal Design - under the article 220 Prima Part 2 (indifference that caused loss of human life). Two craftsmen hired by New Metal Design were charged under Article 240, Part 2 (violation of safety rules during work, which caused loss of human life).

According to the ongoing investigation at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on the second episode, it was established that according to the agreement signed between the Environmental Protection Service of Tbilisi Municipality and Greenservice+, when signing the acceptance-handover act, the executor was obliged to submit form N2 and a report issued by an expert bureau or other accredited person on the compliance and quality of the performed works and delivered products to the terms of the contract and the project.

In August 2022, Greenservice+ performed a part of the rehabilitation works of the fountains and cascade and signed a contract with Mshen-expert LLC in order to prepare the relevant report.

The inspector and technical manager of Mshen-expert studied only the compliance of the actually performed works with the costs, and they did not study the compliance of the works with the valid construction norms and rules.

After this, the inspector and technical manager of Mshen-expert prepared a draft report and sent it to the employee of Greenservice+ on August 19. On the same day, the latter came to the office of Mshen-expert LLC and the inspector and technical manager of the said company agreed to include false data in their report, as if they had studied the compliance of the works with the applicable construction norms and rules, and in return he promised to continue business with the company in the future.

On August 25, the above-mentioned employees of Mshen-expert prepared a fake official document, namely an interim inspection report, in the final part of which they included false information that they allegedly studied and determined the compliance of the performed works with the construction norms and rules in force in Georgia. The said false document was submitted by the director of Greenservice+ to the Environmental Protection Service of the City Hall in order to sign the acceptance-handover act.

In the mentioned episode, the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia charged the director of Greenservice+ under Article 362, Part 1 (use of a false official document); the employee of Greenservice+ - under Article 25,362, Part 1 (incitement to make a false official document), director of Mshen-expert and the inspector of the same company - under the 1st part of Article 362 (forging of false official documents, using).

The Ministry of Internal Affairs continues to investigate the criminal case. Hundreds of investigative and procedural actions have been conducted, the persons in contact with the case have been interrogated, material evidence has been removed during the inspection of the accident site, and important documentation for the case has also been removed during the investigation. Various types of examinations have been appointed, including complex trasological, construction technical, technological and medical examinations, which should answer as to whether the drawn up project and the actually performed works were in accordance with the work safety norms stipulated by the current legislation. Thus, all persons, by whom the fact of committing a crime is confirmed, will be held criminally responsible.

Within the framework of the investigation, any person against whom the fact of committing a crime is additionally revealed, will be immediately charged with criminal law, detailed information about which will be provided to the public", the Prosecutor's Pffice said.

The Prosecutor's Office will apply to the court within the time limit set by the law with a motion to use imprisonment as a restraining measure against all nine persons.