Prison Agency Suspects Bachiashvili Acted in Concert with Prison Staff, Inmates, in His Beating

Georgia’s Special Penitentiary Service suspects that prison staff, inmates, and Giorgi Bachiashvili – a former associate of billionaire and ruling party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, currently jailed for embezzling cryptocurrency – all acted in concert in Bachiashvili’s beating in prison.

Bachiashvili was beaten in prison on July 8 in what he described as a “coordinated activity between the prison administration and criminals.” The Special Penitentiary Service confirmed the incident several days later, after the news broke, but said it was just a fight between Bachiashvili and another inmate, identified as K. Metreveli, and that both were injured. The agency said that an investigation has been opened on a criminal charge of violence.

“The identified circumstances create a reasonable suspicion that specific employees of the Special Penitentiary Service, the inmates under their influence, and convicted Giorgi Bachiashvili may have acted in concert,” the agency said in an August 21 statement.

“Additionally, placing K. Metreveli and G. Bachiashvili in the same cell raises suspicions.”

The agency added that Davit Gogoberishvili, chief of the N8 penitentiary facility where the incident took place, and G. Kemoklidze, deputy director of the agency’s penitentiary department, have both left their posts, while other senior officials remain in place.

Bachiashvili is serving an 11-year prison sentence after being convicted of embezzling a large sum of cryptocurrency from Bidzina Ivanishvili and laundering it. He was arrested in May following what he said was his abduction from abroad involving State Security Service head Anri Okhanashvili. The alleged abduction followed his escape from Georgia in March, when Bachiashvili cited “credible information” suggesting his life would be in danger if imprisoned.

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