Kalandia Found Guilty for Saralidze's Murder, Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison

Mikheil Kalandia, one of the participants of bloody conflict involving teenagers occurred on Khorava Street in Tbilisi in December 2017, has been found guilty of the murder of another young boy - David Saralidze by a group, in aggravating circumstances.

The Tbilisi City Court sentenced him to 15 years of imprisonment, however, under the Juvenile Justice Code of Georgia, the sentence was reduced, accordingly, Kalandia will have to spend 11 years and three months in prison.

Kalandia's relatives disagree with the verdict and claim that they will appeal to Strasbourg Court regarding the case. 

On December 1 of 2017, a brawl between the students on Khorava Street left two teenagers – Davit Saralidze and Levan Dadunashvili – stabbed to death.

Davit Saralidze died in hospital due to multiple wounds in his back, while Levan Dadunashvili died immediately.

On May 31, 2018, Tbilisi City Court charged two minors: one for the premeditated murder of Dadunashvili and the second for the attempted murder of Saralidze; however, the court could not reveal the murderer of Saralidze, which sparked mass protests in the capital organized by his father, Zaza Saralidze.

On June 3, 2019, the Court of Appeals announced that the sentence of one of the convicts (G. B.), who was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Levan Dadunashvili, had been reclassed as “aggravated” and that he was sent to custody for 11 years and three months.

The sentence of the Second convict G. J. had also been reclassed and he was sent to custody for 11 years and three months for the premeditated murder of Saralidze.

The next day, Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested the key witness of the case, Mikheil Kalandia and on June 5th he was officially charged for the murder of Saralidze.

By Ana Dumbadze