G.M. was in the village and was going fishing. The prosecution side presented this in such a way as if he wanted to hide – when the prosecution side had a court ruling, the next day it creates grounds for the court as if G.M. was trying to hide and detains him out of urgent necessity, — this was stated by Lasha Tsutskiridze, the lawyer of Giorgi Malania, the son of the former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, who is charged with aiding and abetting the intentional infliction of serious bodily injury in a group in the case of the murdered teacher Giga Avaliani.

The lawyer does not understand why Giorgi Malania was detained now, when the prosecution side already had in January the evidence for which Giorgi Malania was charged.

“Despite the fact that there were no factual or formal grounds, the court made a decision to impose pre-trial detention as a measure of restraint on a minor in conflict with the law. We proved that the reasoning of the prosecution side in the indictment regarding the charge was only an assumption and was not based on any direct evidence.

There were no formal grounds for the risk of hiding, committing a new crime, or influencing evidence or witnesses. It is known to us that the investigation has been ongoing for 9 months, during which time G.M.’s cooperation with the investigation has been recorded more than once, and he has provided information more than once. For months, there has been no attempt to hide, and at the same time, there is no evidence in the case that would confirm an attempt to influence any witness. Taking all this into account, the judge made an unsubstantiated decision.

As for the judge’s reasoning, he only explained the content of the decision. He spoke only about the legality of the detention, since we considered the detention illegal as well, and therefore we petitioned for the release of the accused.

G.M. was in the village and was going fishing. The prosecution side presented this in such a way as if he wanted to hide. When the prosecution side had a court ruling, the next day it creates grounds for the court as if G.M. was trying to hide and detains him out of urgent necessity.

G.M. agreed with my position, did not speak in detail, and his legal representative also presented the position and expressed an opinion to the judge in his son’s criminal case.

When the charge in the indictment only refers to one paragraph about how the assistance of a specific person was expressed and refers to specific facts and evidence, it relies on evidence from January. The prosecution side is talking about evidence obtained in January, and if the prosecution side considers it relevant that it is bringing charges now based on evidence that existed at that time, why did it happen that the charge was not brought then?! This does not mean that the charge is substantiated,” Lasha Tsutskiridze stated.

For information: The son of the former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Merab Malania, Giorgi Malania, has been charged under Article 25, Part 3 (l) of Article 117 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (aiding and abetting the intentional infliction of serious bodily injury in a group), which provides for imprisonment of up to 13 years. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, with the help of Giorgi Malania, who was Giga Avaliani’s student, Aleksandre Gabashvili, Giorgi Rikadze, and Demetre Chikovani found out the addresses of his [Giga Avaliani’s] work and residence, studied his work schedule and the route he took from work to home. They selected the place for the execution of their intention and began surveillance. On October 1, 2025, according to the plan developed by Aleksandre Gabashvili, Giorgi Rikadze, and Demetre Chikovani, Aleksandre Gabashvili and Giorgi Rikadze attacked Giga Avaliani in a group, as a result of which he sustained serious bodily injury and died on October 24, 2025, in a medical facility.

For the commission of the above-mentioned crimes, Aleksandre Gabashvili, Giorgi Rikadze, and Demetre Chikovani have already been convicted.