Five Sentenced in Sgt. Roin Shavadze’s 2008 Homicide Case
The former head of the then Constitutional Security Department in Adjara and four members of the Special Forces were found guilty by Tbilisi City Court of intentional unlawful detention of Sergeant Roin Shavadze, participation in the group killing of a helpless person, and abuse of power through the use of force. All five were sentenced to 16 years in prison. The sentence was reduced under the amnesty law and the defendants will have to serve 12 years in prison.
Sergeant Roin Shavadze was a brigade sergeant in the Georgian Ministry of Defense. He participated in a peacekeeping mission in Iraq as part of coalition forces in 2005-2006, during which he received a medal for exemplary service. He also fought in the August War of 2008. On August 16, 2008, Georgian security forces arrested Roin Shavadze in the streets of Batumi, Adjara. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the security officers beating him and calling him “a traitor of this country”, before they put him in a police van. Six hours later, a police officer informed Shavadze’s wife of her husband’s death. According to the official version at the time, Shavadze had been arrested for a drug offence and was fatally injured while trying to escape.
In March 2024, the former deputy head of the then Constitutional Security Department in Adjara and a member of the Special Forces were found guilty in connection with the case. The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia continues to investigate the criminal case with the aim of identifying and exposing the remaining 5 suspects involved in the crime.
Earlier on November 19, 2020 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decided on “Shavadze vs. Georgia”. The Court found a violation of the substantive and procedural aspects of Article 2 of the European Convention, which guarantees the right to life. ECtHR further spoke of “the lack of independence and impartiality of the initial investigation” and added that “the criminal investigation into the death of the applicant’s husband has been ineffective and in breach of the respondent State’s procedural obligations under Article 2 of the Convention.”
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