Udesiani is a former Deputy Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, while Aleksandre Mukhadze is the former director of Penitentiary Facility No. 8 of the Penitentiary Department. The Tbilisi City Court sentenced Udesiani and Mukhadze in absentia to 10.5 years in prison each. This is not the first conviction issued against them.
The charges relate to a 2011 episode concerning the circumstances surrounding the transfer of ownership shares in Turtle Lake (“Kus Tba”), not the businessman’s murder.
The Prosecutor’s Office stated that, whose position was upheld by the court, Giorgi Udesiani and Aleksandre Mukhadze acquired property belonging to Besarion Khardziani worth approximately GEL 4 million.
Besik Khardziani was one of the shareholders of Turtle Lake. In February 2011, he was arrested on charges of drug use and trafficking, which he strongly denied. He was released from prison in December 2012.
After his imprisonment, Khardziani told journalists in interviews that he had been forced to give up his Turtle Lake shares while he was in custody. According to the businessman, Giorgi Udesiani, a United National Movement representative and former Deputy Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, demanded his share in Turtle Lake, and after he refused, he was arrested.
Under the new government, Besik Khardziani appealed to the Prosecutor’s Office demanding the return of the Turtle Lake property. Following an investigation, the shares were returned to him. However, legal disputes over the ownership of Turtle Lake continued.
Radio Liberty reported that businessman Khardziani was killed on March 28, 2015, after being shot four times at the entrance of his home. He was 49 years old. Farid Gurbanov had been wanted since April 2015 for the contract killing of Khardziani, as well as several other charges, including through Interpol’s international channels. Prosecutors alleged that Gurbanov was in Georgia using a forged Ukrainian passport issued in the name of Oleksandr Dametov. Gurbanov was eventually arrested in Turkey in 2024 and extradited to Georgia on September 12 of the same year. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment. The alleged accomplice of Gurbanov, Russian citizen Oleg Doev, remains wanted.
