Two individuals have been arrested and charged with participation in group violence in a case severed from the criminal proceedings relating to teacher Giga Avaliani’s case.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has confirmed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is probing the criminal case. The goal is to identify and prosecute additional individuals involved in the recently uncovered offences.

“In the course of the investigation underway at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, hundreds of investigative actions have been carried out, up to a hundred witnesses have been interviewed, and various expert examinations have been commissioned and received. It has been established that Aleksandre Gabashvili, Giorgi Rikadze, Demetre Chikovani, and others coordinated their efforts to identify and punish individuals they deemed objectionable.

They wrote to selected victims using various means of communication, posing as girls, and arranged to meet them at pre-selected times and locations, after which they lay in wait and subjected their victims to group violence, filming the attacks on camera and retaining the footage on their mobile telephones before distributing it to targeted groups.

In February 2025, during the night-time hours, Aleksandre Gabashvili, Giorgi Rikadze, Demetrе Chikovani, Demetrе Kasradze, Irakli Sulaberidze and others, on the pretext that the victim had allegedly been messaging a girl close to one of them via social media, lured him by deception to the third microdistrict area of Didi Dighomi in Tbilisi, where they subjected him to a physical assault, filming the violence on a mobile telephone.

In July of the same year, Aleksandre Gabashvili, Giorgi Rikadze, Irakli Sulaberidze and Demetrе Kasradze, together with others, subjected a pre-selected victim to a merciless physical assault, likewise filming the violence on a mobile telephone.

Law enforcement officers arrested Irakli Sulaberidze and Demetrе Kasradze on May 27 on a court order. They have been charged under Part 2 of Article 225 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, participation in group action accompanied by violence, which carries a custodial sentence of up to six years. The prosecution will apply to the court within the statutory timeframe seeking the imposition of pre-trial detention as a restraining measure.

We would remind the public that Aleksandre Gabashvili, Giorgi Rikadze and Demetrе Chikovani have already been found guilty by a court of committing the above-mentioned offences.

It should further be noted that the investigation into the criminal case is continuing at the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a view to identifying and prosecuting other individuals involved in the newly established crimes.

Should grounds emerge for holding any other person responsible in connection with the death of Giga Avaliani, whether in respect of organising the offence or any other criminal dimension, the prosecution will respond accordingly,” the statement of the Prosecutor’s Office reads.

For context, the case stems from the fatal beating of 26-year-old teacher Giga Avaliani in Tbilisi on October 1, 2025. Avaliani died in the hospital on October 24 from severe injuries sustained during the assault. Investigations revealed the fatal incident involved calculated violence by a group of individuals linked to wider criminal activity.