“Georgian non-governmental organisations express outrage over the alleged torture that occurred in a police building in Tbilisi, which led to the death of Alan Kakitashvili,” Executive Director of Georgia’s European Orbit, Nino Lomjaria, stated at a briefing.

According to Lomjaria, Alan Kakitashvili, an employee of the city’s sanitation service, was transferred to a clinic on June 7 from questioning at the Gldani-Nadzaladevi police department in a comatose state, with nausea and respiratory failure. Despite surgery and intensive care, he died.

“A friend who was being questioned alongside Alan Kakitashvili, Irakli Tatunahvili, testified in court that during questioning at the police station, he could hear Alan Kakitashvili’s ‘desperate’ voice. According to him, after the screaming stopped, an ambulance arrived in 15-20 minutes and took the fellow away. Irakli Tatunahvili also told the court about the torture inflicted on him. According to him, the police officers brutally struck him. In the room of the police department where he was taken, approximately six police officers were present, including high-ranking officials. During questioning, they severely beat him, and when he was thrown to the ground, they jumped on him.

Another witness, Dimitri Sadoevi, also speaks of police brutality. He was also at the police department with Kakitashvili and Tatunahvili. He told investigators that sounds of beating and swearing could be heard from the police chief’s office, while Alan Kakitashvili and Irakli Tatunahvili were inside. According to the lawyer, Dimitri Sadoevi, who is under his protection, saw how Irakli Tatunahvili was brought out of the police chief’s office in a beaten state. He did not see Kakitashvili being brought out. He accuses police officers Kakha Papinashvili and Lasha Tskhvitaria of torture.

The ministry presented to the public surveillance camera footage mounted on the restaurant’s exterior perimeter, which is irrelevant to the investigation of the torture of Kakitashvili and other questioned individuals and the public interest. The cameras show a fight but also picture that Kakitashvili and other individuals leave the territory healthy. This indicates that the ministry released the fight footage for propaganda purposes to cover up the torture crime that occurred at the police department.
Alan was last seen alive at the Gldani-Nadzaladevi police department. Within hours, he was already unconscious. Within days—dead.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ version, he became unwell during questioning.

For us and Georgia’s society, it is already clear: Alan was tortured at the department. This is not a doubt but a well-founded accusation based on witness Tatunahvili’s testimony, according to which police officers also beat him, stood and jumped from the sofa on him, while simultaneously, Alan’s desperate voice could be heard from another room in the police building. Additional information was received from witnesses that Alan had no external injuries before the arrest but entered the clinic in a comatose state; and finally, publicly available video footage showing Alan leaving the scene independently, with full mobility.

Today, in 2025, people are still being killed in police buildings. Instead of justice, desperate human screams are heard from police buildings. We will not believe the myth that “his heart gave out during questioning.” They beat him until unconscious; they took his life. This is torture. This is the gravest violation of human rights, carried out in a state institution by a state servant.

We demand the immediate identification of those police officers and officials who participated in the questioning process; their arrest and criminal prosecution under the torture statute; and a transparent, complete and effective investigation by the Special Investigation Service. We stand with Alan’s family. We grieve because we see a citizen killed by the state. Torture continued in 2025. Unfortunately, we can no longer save Alan, but we can hold the torturers and their protectors accountable and prevent the next victim,” reads the statement by the non-governmental organizations.