A controversy has sparked around the president-elect Mikheil Kavelashvili, whose recently pardoned convict allegedly murdered 22-year-old Tamaz Mtivlishvili in Tbilisi and later fled the country.
It was reported on February 18 that Mtivlishvili was beaten to death by Giorgi Papashvili after a dispute at their workplace, a local shawarma restaurant. As one of the coworkers claimed, Papashvili had instructed colleagues to steal from the cash register and Mtivlishvili refused. “No one doubted his honesty—he was the most orderly cashier,” they told Ambebi.ge.
Prosecutor Levan Vepkhvadze said that Papashvili used a cutting board to overpower Mtivlishvili. The victim’s family lawyer, Eliso Rukhadze, implied that more than one individual may have been involved. “The injuries indicate more than one person assaulted him,” she said.
Papashvili and another suspect, Bairam Ali Guseinov, reportedly fled the country the next day. Meanwhile, four others—Veriko Kapandaze, Luka Gvenetadze, and Saba Robakidze—were detained for failing to report the crime. Rukhadze accused them of helping Papashvili escape and abandoning Mtivlishvili’s body in the apartment. “One suspect left the apartment earlier but didn’t call the police or ask for help,” she added.
Mtivlishvili’s family searched for him for two days before Papashvili’s mother discovered his body.
The case has attracted scrutiny over Kavelashvili’s mass pardons in January, where he freed over 600 convicts. While his office denied Papashvili was among them, Rukhadze states that both he and Guseinov had ‘recently left the prison facility.’
