Former Penitentiary Official Arrested Over Alleged Staged Beating of Inmate Giorgi Bachiashvili
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, October 10, 2025
Georgia's State Security Service (SSSG) announced on October 9 that Giorgi Kemoklidze, former deputy director of the Penitentiary Department of the Special Penitentiary Service, has been arrested on charges of organizing a staged beating of jailed ex-associate of Bidzina Ivanishvili, Giorgi Bachiashvili.
The announcement came one day after the death of Davit Gogoberishvili, former head of Tbilisi's Gldani No. 8 penitentiary facility, where Bachiashvili was reportedly beaten in July. Authorities are investigating Gogoberishvili's death as an alleged incitement to suicide. Both officials had resigned after the Penitentiary Service suggested that Bachiashvili's beating might have been coordinated among prison staff, inmates, and Bachiashvili himself.
The SSSG said Kemoklidze has been charged with abuse of official power under Article 332 of Georgia's Criminal Code.
According to Lasha Maghradze, deputy head of the SSSG, Kemoklidze initially placed two unregistered inmates in Bachiashvili's cell in an unsuccessful attempt to stage the beating. He later placed another inmate in the cell, leading to what investigators described as a "minor physical confrontation" following an argument.
Investigators believe the staged altercation was intended to support Bachiashvili's claims of being attacked in prison and to be used in domestic and international legal proceedings, including a potential case before the European Court of Human Rights.
Officials said both Kemoklidze and Bachiashvili concealed crucial information from investigators, including by disabling surveillance cameras and deleting video footage from the cells. "Up until yesterday, in the multi-volume criminal case, none of the witnesses had ever mentioned the ten-day placement of the two prisoners," the SSSG stated.
The briefing followed earlier reports from July 11, when Bachiashvili alleged in a public letter that he had been beaten in what he described as a "coordinated activity between the prison administration and criminals." The Penitentiary Service later disputed that account, suggesting the incident may have been orchestrated jointly by Bachiashvili, prison staff, and inmates.
Bezhan Obgaidze, the head of the Penitentiary Service, also resigned amid the ongoing investigation.
Bachiashvili is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for embezzling and laundering a large sum of cryptocurrency belonging to Ivanishvili. He was arrested in May after claiming he had been abducted abroad with the involvement of State Security Service head Anri Okhanashvili. The alleged abduction followed his earlier escape from Georgia in March, when he said he had received "credible information" that his life would be in danger if imprisoned.