The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia says Giorgi Malania, the son of former Deputy Interior Minister Merab Malania, has been charged with aiding and abetting the intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm in a group in a separate case linked to the killing of teacher Giga Avaliani.
Malania was arrested on July 1. The Ministry of Internal Affairs said at the time that he was detained for failing to report a particularly serious crime.
The Prosecutor’s Office says the investigation, conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs under its supervision, establishes that in September 2025 Aleksandre Gabashvili, together with Giorgi Rikadze and Demetre Chikovani, planned a group attack on Avaliani.
For this purpose, they identified Giga Avaliani, checked his social media accounts, and downloaded his photograph in order to visually recognise him.
With the assistance of Malania, who was a student of Avaliani, they obtained his workplace and residential addresses, studied his work schedule, and monitored his daily route from work to home. They selected the location for the attack and began surveillance.
On September 29, 2025, in the evening hours, Gabashvili, Rikadze and Chikovani arrived at a training centre in Tbilisi, in the Sea District settlement, in order to carry out the attack. They set up an ambush and had all conditions in place to proceed; however, for reasons beyond their control, they were unable to carry out their intention on that day.
On October 1, 2025, Gabashvili and Rikadze carried out a group attack on Avaliani, who suffered serious injuries and later died in a medical facility on October 24, 2025.
Merab Malania said that he does not agree with the charges brought against his son and described the process as “unjust.”
The Prosecutor’s Office adds that it will apply to the court within the legal timeframe to request imprisonment as a preventive measure for Malania.
Malania is charged under Article 25, Section 117, Part 3, Subparagraph “L” of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which provides for up to 13 years in prison for aiding in the group intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm.
Following the violence against Avaliani, a total of five minors have been convicted in the case under various articles of the Criminal Code, while investigations into two related cases are still ongoing.
Giga Avaliani, a 28-year-old teacher, was attacked in the Temka settlement of Tbilisi on October 1, 2025. He remained in critical condition for 23 days and died on October 24 without regaining consciousness.
