What do we know so far about the case of Giorgi Gabunia's plotted assassination?

The investigation into the case of the contract murder of Giorgi Gabunia has been going on for almost two months. The State Security Service informed "Mtavari Channel" that the process is in an "active phase ", although the agency traditionally confined itself to dry comments and time and again "in the interests of the investigation" did not speak about other details.

Timeline:

The information that the assassination of journalist Giorgi Gabunia was planned on the orders of the Chechen leader and Putin's right-hand man, Ramzan Kadyrov, became known on June 15, 2020.

The General Director of the Mtavari  Channel held a special briefing and made public the details that Nika Gvaramia learned  about from  Ukrainian and Georgian sources. Nika Gvaramia said that Ukrainian law enforcers had informed Georgian law enforcers about the preparation of a contract killing.

"The investigation on the territory of Ukraine went on for a long time without informing Georgia, and the reason was that Georgia is not a reliable partner when it comes to the investigation against Russian citizens," Gvaramia stated at a special briefing on 15 June.

According to Nika Gvaramia, for several months Giorgi Gabunia had been intensely followed due to which the leadership of the Mtavari Channel decided to strengthen the personal protection of the journalist.

"I have had personal security guards for more than two years, but recently the protection was strengthened even more. Especially, when after my monologue on TV, Kadyrov openly stated  "that someone would meet me somewhere and something would happen to me," said Giorgi Gabunia in his first comment.

Kadyrov's Threat

“The world is full of millions of young people who are deeply reverent of Putin. Gabunia better hide behind seven fences, because the first person he encounters will do to him what he deserves,”- right hand of Putin threatened Georgian journalist back in 2019.

The threat was preceded by a monologue on Rustavi 2 TV's "Post Scriptum" program, which was delivered by Giorgi Gabunia without agreeing with the then leadership of the channel.

After that, the Chechen leader called on the Georgian officials to launch a criminal case against the journalist and stated that the President and Prime Minister of Georgia should offer public apologies to Putin. He also called for imposing tough sanctions on Georgia.  

Due to the profanity expressed towards the President of the occupier country, the Georgian authorities urgently made sharp statements.

The Georgian Dream government accused the journalist of provocation and acting against the country. The authorities went so far as to issue a special statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called on the international community to "properly assess the behavior of the journalist".

• "Disgusting provocation and an attempt to destabilize the country," then-Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze wrote on Twitter;
• "This political group is acting against Georgia," said Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze;
• "It either serves to provoke a new war or is in revenge for a failed  coup," said Salome Zurabishvili, the country's president, who has repeatedly accused her country of waging war on Russia;
• The pathos of the Prime Minister, the President, and the Speaker of Parliament was repeated by the mayor of the capital - "hostility to the country" because of the swearing of the president of the occupying country.
   

  Special operation on Kavtaradze street - who is Vasambek Bokov?

  Vasambek Badri Bokov, a Russian citizen of Ingush origin, known as Ahmed, arrived in Georgia on a special assignment. He was detained by the State Security Service in Tbilisi on June 12, 2020. The Counter-Terrorism Department conducted a special operation on Kavtaradze Street, in the residential complex "Dream Town", where Bokov lived in a rented apartment.

  As it turned out later, State Security arrested Bokov on charges of purchase, possession, and use of forged documents as part of a criminal investigation into the alleged premeditated murder.

  It should be noted that the person arrested by the State is not a killer - according to the Director-General of "Mtavari Channel", Vasambek Bokov is one of the members of the organized group that should have studied the route of Giorgi Gabunia. The actual killer should have got involved in the case later.

  It is noteworthy that State Security Service disseminated information about the special operation in the center of the capital only after the General Director of "Mtavari Channel" reported on the case of preparation of the murder of Giorgi Gabunia.

  In parallel with the special operation in Kavtaradze street, it became known that apart from Tbilisi, a special operation was carried out in the Pankisi Gorge, where law enforcement officers searched the house of the elder of the gorge, Khaso Khangoshvili. As it turned out, Bokov was a friend of Khangoshvili's son and had visited the gorge many times.

  The elder, for his part, said he did not know what Bokov was doing, but said he had been moving freely throughout Georgia for months and was about to leave the country by ship from Batumi:

  "If he had that intention, how many months he spent here, why they didn't detain him, what, they were waiting for him to fulfill that intention, what is it?!" - said Khangoshvili in his comment to "Mtavari".

Vasambek Bokov is currently in custody. On June 15, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced him to two months in pre-trial detention and scheduled a pre-trial hearing for August 6. Bokov was charged under Article 362 of the Criminal Code with the forgery and sale of fraudulent documents.

What do they know in Ukraine?

Georgian servicemen in Ukraine, based on their own sources, said that information about the order to kill Giorgi Gabunia leaked after the Ukrainian security services arrested General Shaitanov in April.

Shaitanov was a general in the Ukrainian special services, but the Ukrainian security service exposed him in having a connection with Kadyrov and arrested him during a special operation.

According to reserve colonel David Makishvili, Vasambek Bokov is an employee of the special purpose unit of the Russian Federal Security Service "Vympel".

Questionings

After the statement about the murder ordered by Kadyrov, the State Security Service summoned Nika Gvaramia, General Director of the Mtavari  Channel, and journalist Giorgi Gabunia for questioning.

Both of them, citing distrust towards the investigation, refused to go to Liluashvili's office and demanded to be questioned in the presence of the Judge magister. Nika Gvaramia and Giorgi Gabunia were interrogated in the Tbilisi City Court on  June 19.

After the interview, Nika Gvaramia said that he had provided information to the investigation, but did not identify the source. The sources, in this case, he said, were high-ranking officials from State Security Service and "Georgian Dream".

After the interrogation, the Prosecutor's Office did not speak about the essential details of the case and only indirectly confirmed that the audio-video material obtained as a result of the investigative actions was included in the case file.

Following Nika Gvaramia and Giorgi Gabunia`s questioning, a series of questionings of journalists continued at the State Security Service. After the investigative report was prepared on the same topic, the head of TV Pirveli news service and the author of the report were summoned for questioning as well. The investigation was also interested in the information possessed by the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Kronika +".

In this case, too, the law enforcement agencies were interested in the identity of the journalistic source.

It should be underlined that a journalist is protected by law and has the right not to disclose the source.

Response from Russia

"Trust me, if someone is acting on my orders, he will carry them out,"  the Chechen leader said in response to allegations made against him.

Kadyrov issued a statement on June 17 calling the allegations of ordering the assassination of Giorgi Gabunia "stupid ." Kadyrov also gave advice to the Georgian authorities and voiced another  threat:

“Giorgi Gabunia, as I said earlier, it would be better for him to kneel down and ask for forgiveness, apologize for what happened. He insulted not one person, but all Russians. I appeal to the Georgian authorities to take measures conducive to the re-education of this citizen. I recommend that he draw the right conclusions and put his mind in order. Otherwise, I repeat, he will remain my enemy,” wrote Kadyrov.

"You are sick" - this was the response of Lavrov's Press-Secretary Maria Zakharova to the question of Georgian journalists regarding the case.

"The Russian government has nothing to do with the case of Giorgi Gabunia," said Peskov, Putin's spokesman, who also denied the charges, calling them "absurd.

State Duma MP Alexander Sherin went as far as demanding to put Gabunia on a wanted list and seek his extradition so he can be tried in a Russian court.

"Investigation against Giorgi Gabunia should be launched in Russia under the article of insulting a government official, and Georgia should hand over Gabunia to Moscow for this," the Duma MP demanded.

International Response

The dissemination of information about Kadyrov's plot to liquidate the Georgian journalist was soon followed by an international response that distinctly differed from that of the Georgian authorities;

Not many in the West were surprised by such an order coming from Kadyrov. International partners and friends urged the Georgian authorities to protect the journalist:

"If it is confirmed that the detainee was  plotting to assassinate Gabunia, it means that Russia will go all the way," said Michael Carpenter, Joe Biden's foreign policy adviser;

"This is a political vendetta on the part of Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader is settling scores with a Georgian journalist because he dared to criticize Putin," said European Parliament member Anna Fotyga.

"The only key to the fundamental principles of democracy is the protection of media rights. Any actions that can disrupt the work of the media are incompatible with democracy," said Ihor Dolgov, Ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia.

The international organization "Reporters Without Borders" has issued a special statement urging the Georgian authorities to ensure the safety of Giorgi Gabunia;

"Kadyrov performs direct orders from Putin and Russian politicians. They will try again to punish Giorgi Gabunia. I think that the arrested man was not acting alone, and he had accomplices," said Oleg Panfilov, a journalist residing in Georgia.

"Kadyrov wants to please Putin with Gabunia's liquidation. I think the arrested hitman did not act alone, so there is a chance that the attempt will be repeated. It is already a matter of principle for them," said Tumso Abdurahamnov, a Chechen blogger who is currently hiding from  Kremlin and Kadyrov.

It is noteworthy that in recent years Aburahmanov has been repeatedly attacked for his criticism. The blogger persecuted by Kadyrov also applied for asylum in Georgia, but the Georgian authorities turned him down.

"If Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov ordered the assassination of a Georgian journalist, the United States should impose secondary sanctions on Kadyrov and his associates," writes the Washington Examiner.

The influential media outlet also writes about the high-profile murders connected with the Putin-Kadyrov alliance:

Kadyrov is a comfortable killer who values the act of making do on a threat. Yet, while Kadyrov's propensity for torture and murder is extensively documented, so also is his particular disdain for journalists who criticize him.

Then, there's the element of Kadyrov defending Putin's honor.

Kadyrov is Putin's guy in Chechnya, responsible for maintaining the Kremlin's ultimate authority in return for Kadyrov's wide latitude to manage the Russian republic as he sees fit. And Kadyrov knows that showing homage to the main boss is important. So, when Putin is insulted, Kadyrov is always keen to assert himself as Putin's loyal defender. Sometimes, this involves Kadyrov taking it onto himself to earn Putin's favor with acts Putin is unaware of, but Kadyrov is also happy to act as a directed cutout or intermediary for Putin's directives. This was the case with the 2015 death of activist Boris Nemtsov in Moscow and possibly also with the 2019 death of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin. "wrote the author of the article, Tom Rogan.

"No journalist should be intimidated for performing his or her official duties and his or her life should not be endangered," the European Press and Media Freedom Center said in a statement.

What was stated in Georgia?

Despite the immediate international resonance, the top officials of the Georgian government responded to the information about the order to kill a Georgian citizen coming from the occupant country with silence.

Whereas irritated by profanity towards  Putin, senior Georgian Dream officials made statements denouncing Giorgi Gabunia one after another on the same night, the ruling team limited itself to moderate assessments regarding the assassination ordered by Kadyrov.

The message from senior officials was " gratitude to the State Security Service".

The President of Georgia made two statements regarding this issue. The first was on Facebook, where she linked everything to the successful fight against the coronavirus:

"As the President and the guarantor of the Constitution, I would like to thank the State Security Service, which was able to prevent an attempt to endanger human life in a timely manner and with the utmost professionalism. At the same time, we understand that we are dealing with criminal and provocative actions against the stability of the country. I think that the stability of our country, the effective fight against the epidemic and the irreversible democratic development can irritate many, but such a destructive goal has not been achieved," the President wrote in a social network.

For the second time, Salome Zurabishvili spoke  about  Gabunia's case while commenting to journalists saying that she hoped for an investigation and added:

“I am the President of the country and I have no right to blame any other country until we know what happened and how it happened. We all agree that there are a lot of suspicious questions in this case," - Zurabishvili said two days after the information was released - on June 17.

"The law enforcement system has prevented a serious crime," the Prime Minister said live on the Public Broadcaster on June 16:

„We are now in the election race, the temperature of the political process is increasing, everyone will try to use this issue for their narrow political and corporate interests,” Gakharia said

"Why are you asking me to comment on Kadyrov's statement?" - The mayor of the capital was irritated by the journalists' question and limited himself to expressing gratitude to the State Security Service.

Irakli Kobakhidze also saw the opposition behind Kadyrov's order. He not only exposed the opposition leaders Irakli Okruashvili, Gubaz Sanikidze and Nino Burjanadze as agents of the GRU having a connection with the Russian special services, but accused the entire opposition spectrum of wanting to destabilize the country.

Kobakhidze's narrative was repeated by other leaders of the majority.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry, which a year ago called on the international community to properly assess the actions of the journalist with regard to cursing Putin, issued its first official statement 24 hours later, putting into question the involvement of Russia and Kadyrov in the case:

 “The assassination attempt of our citizen, a journalist is unacceptable for us. The state protects the life of every individual and the rule of law. We await the results of the investigation. It is necessary to find out in whose interest it was to carry out this crime and internationally discredit the country", - reads  the statement of MFA of Georgia.

Non-governmental responses

The Charter of Journalistic Ethics responded to the case of a possible ordered murder of a journalist with a special statement:

"Investigative bodies should  promptly disclose details related to the investigation of  Giorgi Gabunia's murder plot due to high public interest."

The 16 most influential non-governmental organizations in the country issued a joint statement:

"We call on the Government of Georgia to conduct a transparent investigation, to involve friendly countries in it and to provide full information to the public."

Russian security services and members of Kadyrov's group are moving around the territory of Georgia without any problems - this was the general assessment of the opposition.

Political opponents of the government said that the "Georgian Dream" gave the Russian security services full freedom of action in Georgia; instead of doing their job, the country's security services are busy prosecuting political opponents; the borders are unprotected and any citizen is vulnerable.

Author: Tamar Gogoladze