The Court of Appeals has upheld the decision of the court of first instance regarding the murder of Colonel Sergo Tetradze.

In particular, former Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia has been convicted and his sentence to 9 years in prison has been upheld. The court also convicted Akhalaia's deputy, Nikoloz Dzimtseishvili, who was accused in the same case and sentenced him to 4 years in prison.

The guilty verdict against Bacho Akhalaia and his former deputy Nikoloz Dzimtsishvili was delivered by the Tbilisi City Court in April 2018. Akhalaia was accused under several articles, including for organizing the torture and sexual abuse of Sergo Tetradze, torture of Davit Londaridze and Gia Gorelashvili, abuse of power and embezzlement of budgetary funds, while Nikoloz Dzimtsishvili was accused of embezzlement of budgetary funds.

Colonel Sergo Tetradze, Gia Gorelashvili, Sergei Chapligin and Davit Londaridze were detained on charges of espionage in 2011. Tetradze died 4 days after being transferred to the Gldani prison No 8 following the court’s decision on pretrial detention. The re-investigation established that Tetradze died as a result of torture, the motivation of which was to obtain a desired testimony from him.