Georgian Thief In Law Shot

David Karseladze, a Georgian thief in law nicknamed "Kalatoz," was seriously injured by gunshot wounds in the Russian city of Sochi.

According to reports, Karseladze was the victim of an armed attack, during which he was shot several times by an unknown man who fled the scene. He is currently in the intensive care unit in a Sochi hospital.

Karseladze led one of the most infamous criminal groups in Sochi. In 2004, members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia detained him in the village of Sartichala in the Gardabani Municipality on charges of murder, kidnapping, extortion, and blackmail of businessmen. He tried, convicated, and imprisoned for 10 years, after which he moved to Russia.

In March 2016, a member of the opposition United National Movement (UNM), Givi Targamadze, publicly accused the then-Minister of Energy, now Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, of having links to Kalatoz. Targamadze claimed that the criminal authority transferred 1.1 million dollars to the account of the Ministry of Energy.

Kaladze himself called the accusations groundless, and noted that the Ministry of Energy has no specific bank account, and money is allocated to the department only from the state treasury.

By Shawn Wayne