Sandro Girgvliani murder case

The Sandro Girgvliani Murder Case is one of the most notorious criminal cases in the modern history of Georgia. The killing, and the events as a result of it, have generated heavy criticism of the former government, particularly the interior minister, and the extent to which then President Mikheil Saakashvili has truly introduced judicial independence and a democratic culture into society.

The murder

Sandro Girgvliani was found dead on January 28, 2006 on the outskirts of Tbilisi with multiple injuries inflicted as a result of physical abuse. According to an Imedi Television investigation on February 12, the murder of the 28-year-old head of the United Georgian Bank's Foreign Department, can be traced to a series of events which developed in Tbilisi’s elite Sharden Bar. It is alleged that the Inspector General of Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vasil Sanodze was holding his birthday party to which the highest members of the department were invited. Tako Salakaia, the wife of the then-Interior Minister and current Prime Minister, Vano Merabishvili, was in attendance, and by chance happened to be a friend of Girgvliani's girlfriend, Tamar Maisuradze. Maisuradze's presence is reportedly the reason for the subsequent victim's fatal visit.