Valeria Kirlyuk, a citizen of Ukraine and the woman detained in connection with the abandonment in distress of Abkhaz blogger Daur Buava, has been ordered into pretrial detention as a preventive measure.

This decision was made by Tbilisi City Court judge Arsen Kalatozishvili.

At the hearing, the prosecution requested the most severe preventive measure - pretrial detention - against the detainee. The defense lawyer petitioned for her to be left without any preventive measure.

The prosecution argues that there is a risk of the detainee committing a new crime, influencing witnesses, and absconding.

According to prosecutor Davit Kazarashvili, attention should be focused on the defendant’s personality: when leaving Daur Buava’s apartment, she communicated with numerous people and did not tell a single one of them that a person was in distress inside the apartment.

The prosecutor stated that she was afraid of responsibility and did not notify the police. He added that it is not only significant what condition the defendant was in at that moment, but also the fact that several days later, when friends inquired about Daur Buava, she still concealed his condition from them.

Lawyer Khatuna Chkhaidze did not agree with the petition. According to the lawyer, the crime belongs to a less serious category, and the court should not have applied any type of preventive measure against her client. The lawyer stated that the detainee is in serious condition and is in the intensive care unit.

The detained woman herself is exercising her right to remain silent.

For reference: Abkhaz blogger Daur Buava was found dead in a residential apartment in Tbilisi on 28 August. He had reportedly been dead for several days, as neighbors called the rescue team because of a strong smell of “rotting meat” in the building. Rescuers found Buava already deceased upon entering the apartment. On 29 August, law enforcement officers detained a foreign citizen - Buava’s female friend Valeria Kirlyuk - under Article 128 of the Criminal Code, which concerns abandonment in distress. According to the investigation, the two of them used narcotic substances, after which both became unwell. The investigation states that the detained woman left Buava in a critically severe and life-threatening condition, locked the apartment door from the outside, and left the scene. An investigation is also underway under Article 115 of the Criminal Code - driving to suicide. Within the framework of the investigation into Daur Buava’s death, law enforcement officers have also detained two persons on charges of purchase and storage of narcotic substances.