Investigation Launched into Alleged Falsification of Evidence in Bachaliashvili Case  

The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has launched an investigation into the fact of alleged falsification of evidence in the case of a young programmer, Tamar Bachaliashvili’s death. The Prosecutor’s Office said it was prompted to launch the investigation after Sergo Shubitidze, one of the investigators in the Bachaliashvili case, said in an interview with Formula TV that he did not trust the official version of the investigation about Bachaliashvili’s suicide and focused on several suspicious circumstances.

The 23-year-old programmer was found dead in her own car on July 22, 2020, four days after her family reported her disappearance. The Prosecutor’s Office said at the time that Bachaliashvili had committed suicide and that it was therefore closing the investigation into the case. Bachaliashvili’s family accused the police of inaction and malpractice and categorically ruled out the suicide version, discussing various scenarios of her murder.

In a statement released on May 2, the Prosecutor’s Office said that Sergo Shubitidze, who is expected to appear for questioning today, was working as a detective-investigator at the Kvemo Kartli Police Department in 2020, when Bachaliashvili died, and interviewed only three people as witnesses and drew about 20 protocols. “However, he did not conduct any investigative actions, the results of which would have had any impact on the circumstances established by the investigation conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office,” statement reads.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, after Shubitidze’s interrogation, the information revealed by him will be legally evaluated and the public will be informed about the decision. In the statement, the Prosecutor’s Office once again describes all the investigative procedures carried out in the Bachaliashvili case and adds that the evidence obtained does not confirm any version of the programmer’s death other than suicide.

What did the former investigator say?

In the interview with Formula TV aired on April 29, Sergo Shubitidze said that he wanted to bring justice to the case. “Even if there is solid evidence that she committed suicide, I really do not believe it,” – he said, adding: “I do not want to carry this burden alone. Let others do it too.” According to Formula TV, Shubitidze left his post after the interview.  

According to Shubitidze, when the programmer’s corpse was found, it was swollen, full of worms and “actually almost rotten.” “There were versions that a fly could have flown into the car, but all the windshields were up. How many flies could have flown into the car?” he asked, adding believes that “the body was originally on the ground” and then placed in the car.

Shubitidze also said that he had personally started the investigation of the case and was about to write a report on the examination of the body when Elguja Apuashvili, an employee of the Tetritskaro district department, came to him and brought Bachaliashvili’s unsealed phone, which had been seized at the scene of the crime, and pressured Shubitidze to seal it, in spite of the fact that this was a breach of the investigative procedure and the phone should have been sealed at the crime scene.

Another fact that raises questions for the former investigator is that when he opened Bachaliashvili’s phone and began to inspect it, he could not find either calls or messages dated before July 18, 2020. According to him, this was surprising, because given Bachaliashvili’s activities, “she should have received calls earlier.”

Elguja Apuashvili, who according to Formula TV was promoted a few months after the Bachaliashvili case and is now the deputy head of the investigative department of the Tetritskaro police, said in the interview with the TV channel that a lot of time has passed since the incident and he does not remember the details.

Also Read:

• 18/09/2020 – Prosecutor’s Office Releases New Findings on Young Programmer’s Death Case
• 04/09/2020 – Autopsy Report on Young Programmer’s Death Case Released

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