The murder of Levan Jangveladze was not planned; it was spontaneous. How could a sane person plan a murder in the middle of Chavchavadze Avenue? stated Gela Udzilauri, accused in the murder of businessman Levan Jangveladze, during his testimony at the court hearing.

Udzilauri, who had been exercising his right to remain silent until now, spoke for the first time at the court session today and stated that Levan Jangveladze’s murder “is related to personal resentment.”

Udzilauri says that in 2022, he and his Ukrainian friend, Serhii Bindarenko, had a physical confrontation with Levan Jangveladze in Kyiv, which left him humiliated.

“In 2022, I was in Ukraine. I had to live there for 2 months. I did not participate in combat operations; I worked as a physical training instructor. There I met Serhii Bindarenko, my brother-in-arms. Serhii had his own Bitcoin factory. The factory was taken from him by well-known criminals in Moscow, and one of them was Levan Jangveladze… I contacted Levan via Skype [through Serhii]…

I can’t speak without emotion. My friend Serhii and I went to meet Levan. They came - there were 8-10 people. They treated us very rudely, beat us. They threw us into trunks and took us somewhere. They left us extremely humiliated and disgusted. From there, I came to Georgia… I was interested in Levan’s personality - who he was, what he was like. If a person hits a dog with a stick, the dog becomes aggressive, and I am a person with dignity. Just because someone has a lot of money and so on, it doesn’t mean that. I was humiliated. I knew that Levan rarely came to Georgia, but on an informational level, I was always interested in him; I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to say to him, ‘As you treated us, there was no need for that’… To be direct, I did not have a direct conflict with Levan…

On March 13, I messaged Serhii, who told me that Levan’s close friend had died in Georgia. I gave him the address and the deceased’s name and surname. He told me it was Guram Gogia, who lives at the beginning of Chavchavadze Avenue.

I went to Chavchavadze Avenue and saw the address, the funeral where it was. Then I went home. The funeral was on Saturday… On Friday evening, when I left home, I was wearing a thin classic jacket. I had a ‘cellophane’ bag in hand. The weapon I had was a gift from my deceased friend, Valeri Tanishvili…

In short, my daily routine was like this: I would see Levan or not. On Friday, I wanted to see Levan; it’s a bit hard to explain…

[On Chavchavadze Avenue] When Levan passed by, he looked at me very closely; the face was such that you feel like you’ve seen the person somewhere but can’t recognize them. I intended to talk to him and say, ‘At that time, what you did to us was unnecessary.’ I was excited, Your Honor. I did not want to get into a direct conflict with Levan. I thought, maybe he’ll go to the funeral, and if he comes… In short, Levan came, he was alone, that’s how I saw him. When he came, I was sitting on a bench and stood up. I wanted to talk to him civilly. It seemed like he recognized me, like when you’ve seen someone somewhere. I thought I’d talk to him. When he passed by - he looked at me but didn’t stop. He was walking fast, and I was walking fast too… One turn happened, he looked at me - I saw him; I was about to call out to him, and as soon as he turned ‘back,’ he looked at me, and I looked at him too.

For one second, I thought he would take out a weapon - with exactly those eyes that in Skype he told me: ‘They will pay attention to you.’ He turned and I couldn’t control myself. I wanted to cut him. My nerves couldn’t take it anymore, I don’t know. When I took it out and shot, with the first shot, I say, it didn’t hit Levan… He fell, and I told him, don’t take out the weapon and don’t move… Before he could take out the weapon, I shot, and he fell… I fired several shots into the air, but [one person was hit in the leg]…

Then I went to the Qinchvisi Monastery. I really had the feeling that Levan was injured, and I thought, I hope he survived. I changed my clothes. Then I wanted to go to the monastery again and then surrender to the police. Before going to the monastery the second time, I went to a hotel; I was interested in Levan’s condition. This happened on Saturday, and I planned to surrender to the police on Monday. When I arrived at the hotel, I was in a mess,” Jangveladze stated.

According to him, he had exercised the right to remain silent until now because what he had to say was “toward the end of the court proceedings.” Additionally, Udzilauri stated that he has no acquaintance or connection with the Mikadze brothers.

Furthermore, according to Jangveladze, on the day of the murder, he was supposed to meet a woman of Ukrainian origin, Sveta, on University Street, but ultimately, he was unable to meet the Ukrainian woman.

“I was going to see the girl and took off my jacket, put it in cellophane, and left it there. In the end, I didn’t meet Sveta either, I didn’t go to the area, and I went to Chavchavadze, maybe Levan Jangveladze will come today. It’s hard to explain all this, Your Honor. I walked on foot on the way, took a bus, a taxi, and arrived where this unfortunate event happened,” stated Udzilauri.

With the aforementioned testimony, Udzilauri answered the defense’s questions.

Udzilauri is being interrogated as a witness today. At this moment, he is answering the prosecution’s questions.

For reference, Gela Udzilauri was arrested on charges of the contract murder of Levan Jangveladze.

The incident occurred on March 14, 2025, at 23:30 on Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue in Tbilisi. According to the prosecution, Udzilauri fired multiple shots from a firearm at Levan Jangveladze and his driver, Gia Chaduneli, in a crowded area. As a result of multiple injuries, Jangveladze died at the scene, while Chaduneli was taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds.

Gela Udzilauri has been charged under Article 19.109, subparagraphs “b” and “l” (attempted intentional murder of two persons using a means that endangers the lives and health of others) and Article 236, parts 3 and 4 (illegal acquisition, possession, and carrying of a firearm) of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which carries a penalty of 16 to 20 years of imprisonment or life imprisonment.