“Did those people who are victims not have a mother? Why did it have to be my child who died? Prison only makes sense, and years of punishment only matter if they can reform them. These people cannot be reformed. They are sick, bloodthirsty,” said Ekaterine Kupatadze, the mother of teacher Giga Avaliani.

According to her, hearing the closing statement was very difficult for her.

“I realized that listening to the closing statement would be difficult, even though I know the case materials in detail. However, my ability to speak is impaired because I had not directly seen the image of my son’s murder. I watched a video that I had not seen before and went into shock. I could not stay in the courtroom for long and left.

Alexander Gabashvili had a ‘film’ of the violence on his phone.

The facts revealed in the closing statement were horrifying, in particular the recording of Rikaidze’s grandmother, filmed at home, where she says: ‘How many times did I tell you not to keep this on your phone,’ — she did not say not to beat someone, but ‘don’t keep this on your phone, it’s dangerous.’

Rikaidze’s mother says that Alexander Gabashvili’s mother, Khatuna, called me and told me, ‘The police are coming for a search.’ When I say that Alexander Gabashvili knows what is happening at what time through hidden calls, it turns out this is true, and prosecutor Keti Sonidze confirmed it as well.

The mother of Giorgi Rikaidze, Tinatin Papaskiri, had stored and prepared symbols characteristic of neo-Nazi groups and was worried that she did not manage to throw them away. She is not worried that people are being beaten, but that she did not manage to dispose of them. This is, to some extent, an admission.

It also appears that three attackers entered the ‘Ori Nabiji’ store, from where a young person was taken out, and the cashier told other employees to lock the door so they wouldn’t come in again. She did not raise her voice or call out that such an incident had occurred.

Did those victims not have a mother? Why did it have to be my child who died? All of you are dangerous in their hands. These are bloodthirsty sick individuals. They cannot be reformed. Prison and years only make sense if they can lead to reform, but these people cannot be reformed. They are sick, bloodthirsty,” said Ekaterine Kupatadze.

For context, four people have been arrested in the case of Giga Avaliani’s death. Alexander Gabashvili has been charged under Article 117, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which refers to intentional serious bodily harm resulting in death. Giorgi Rikaidze and two other minors were charged under Article 376, Part 1, which refers to failure to report a crime by a person who knows that a serious crime is being prepared or has been committed. According to available information, the charges against two of the four minors arrested in the case of young teacher Giga Avaliani’s murder have been aggravated. The individuals in question are D.Ch. and A.N., who were initially charged with failure to report a crime. D.Ch. is now accused of intentional serious bodily harm committed in a group. A.N. was previously charged with failure to report a crime, and now faces charges of failure to report a particularly serious crime, which carries a prison sentence of 3 to 7 years.