Konstantine Tsikhistavi, who recently finished a 20-year term in prison aired in a Formula TV talk show, that a high-profile murder of prominent journalist Giorgi Sanaia was ordered by Tamaz Tamazashvili, former Police general and now father-in-law of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.
Giorgi Sanaia, one of the most popular journalists in Georgia was found murdered in 2001.
Speaking in talk show hosted by Vakho Sanaia, Giorgi’s younger brother and a Formula TV anchor, Tsikhistavi said the murder was carried out by Shota Chichiashvili linked with kidnappings and organized crime in the Pankisi Gorge in 1990s and early 2000s. Tsikhistavi himself was a member of Chichiashvili’s gang which he joined after escaping from prison in 2008 to Pankisi gorge, being a lawless land without much central government control at that time.
Tsikhistavi claimed that he witnessed the request on murdering Sanaia made in village Duisi during the meeting between Tamazashvili and Chichiashvili. He said an imminent possibility for Giorgi Sanaia obtaining a videotape that would depict a crime committed by then state officials in Pankisi Gorge caused the murder.
Chichiashvili was arrested in 2004 and released in 2013 by an amnesty declared by the Georgian Dream. He was killed in by Ukrainian special forces in a shootout in 2019.
No investigative actions have been reported following Tsikhistavi’s statement.
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