“Emerging circumstances raise well-founded suspicions that specific staff members of the Special Penitentiary Service, prisoners under their influence, and Bachiashvili [former Head of Co-Investment Fund imprisoned for misappropriating significant funds and laundering illicit income] acted in mutual coordination,” the Penitentiary Service said in a statement.

According to the Penitentiary Service, the investigation has revealed alleged instances of disciplinary violations by certain Penitentiary Service employees.

“An investigation is ongoing at the General Inspection of the Ministry of Justice regarding the physical confrontation between K. Metreveli and G. Bachiashvili that occurred on July 11 in a cell at Special Penitentiary Service Institution No. 8, under Article 126, Part One of Georgia’s Criminal Code. Potential disciplinary violations by certain employees of the Penitentiary Service have come to light during the ongoing investigation. Consequently, disciplinary proceedings were initiated on August 19 at the Monitoring Department of the Special Penitentiary Service, following an appeal from the General Inspection of the Ministry of Justice.

As part of the disciplinary proceedings, several individuals were questioned. These included the head of Institution No. 8, some prison staff members and the Special Penitentiary Service, convicted Bachiashvili, convicted Metreveli, and other inmates who may have had contact with Bachiashvili.

As a result of the investigation, the circumstances that have emerged at this stage raise well-founded suspicions that specific staff members of the Special Penitentiary Service, prisoners under their influence, and convicted person G. Bachiashvili may have acted in mutual coordination. Furthermore, certain suspicions are also raised regarding the motivation behind placing K. Metreveli in the same cell as Bachiashvili.

Following examination of the circumstances revealed within the disciplinary proceedings framework and considering that, under conditions of ongoing investigation and internal service inspection, the leading officials continued to retain their positions, which could potentially have hindered the establishment of objective truth in the case, the head of Penitentiary Institution No. 8, D. Gogoberishvili, and the Deputy Director of the Penitentiary Department of the Special Penitentiary Service, G. Kemolidze, have resigned,” the Penitentiary Service statement reads.