Key Witness in Teen Murder Case Sent to Pretrial Custody

On June 6, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Mikheil Kalandia, one of the main witnesses in the Khorava murder case investigation, to pretrial custody.

Kalandia was arrested on charges of murder committed by a group of persons in aggravating circumstances in connection with the controversial Khorava street incident in December 2017, which left two 16 year-olds – Davit Saralidze and Levan Dadunashvili – stabbed to death.

Commenting on the court ruling, Mikheil Kalandia’s brother, Luka Kalandia said that his brother was innocent and that there was no evidence in the case to arrest him – the position echoed by Kalandia’s defense lawyer.

Mikheil Kalandia was arrested on June 4, a day after the Court of Appeals partially took into consideration the prosecution’s arguments and re-qualified initial charges of attempted murder of Davit Saralidze against another convict (identified as G. J.) into charge of partaking into group murder, sentencing him to 11 years and three months in jail.

The Interior Ministry said that the ruling of the Court of Appeals, along with other pieces of evidence, reinforced the investigation’s position and created additional grounds for Mikheil Kalandia’s arrest.

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