TBILISI, August 6 – Georgian police have detained two more women in the investigation into the fatal beating of teacher Giga Avaliani, nearly ten months after the attack and after several other defendants had already been convicted.
The two women were detained on Wednesday night, Interpressnews reported.
The first is a former student of Avaliani’s and the girlfriend of one of the convicted attackers. She is accused of inciting the group assault that left the teacher fatally injured. The charge carries a possible prison sentence of up to 13 years.
She became unwell during her arrest and was taken to hospital late Wednesday. On Thursday, she was transferred to a police detention facility after receiving treatment.
The second woman, the girlfriend of another convicted attacker, was reportedly detained on suspicion of failing to inform police about an especially serious crime.
Avaliani was attacked on October 1, 2025. Prosecutors said Alexander Gabashvili and Giorgi Rikadze assaulted him as part of a plan developed with Demetre Chikovani. Avaliani suffered severe injuries and died in hospital on October 24.
The investigation has since expanded far beyond the two men accused of carrying out the attack.
Georgian media have reported an allegation that the former student told her boyfriend, Gabashvili, that Avaliani was paying her excessive attention.
Avaliani was a 28-year-old doctor and mathematics tutor who worked with his mother at a private educational centre they had opened in Temka, where pupils received tutoring alongside their regular schooling. The centre stood in a mainly residential district on Tbilisi’s northern outskirts, near the Tbilisi Sea.
Avaliani had finished his final class there at about 10:20 pm on October 1 when he was followed as he walked the short distance home. He was attacked near the entrance to his apartment building.
Gabashvili and Rikadze were each sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison in proceedings that also covered other violent incidents. Chikovani received six years and nine months in that case and was separately convicted of preparing the group attack on Avaliani.
Ani Naskidashvili was convicted of failing to report that a serious crime was being prepared and had taken place.
A further defendant, Giorgi Malania, was arrested in July. Prosecutors allege that Malania, who had also been Avaliani’s student, helped the group discover his home and workplace, study his schedule and movements, choose the attack site and conduct surveillance.
Malania is the son of former deputy interior minister Merab Malania. His father has called the accusation illegal, unjust and absurd. The defence says the teenager did not know the convicted attackers. Prosecutors say evidence against him emerged later in the continuing investigation.
In comments made by the murdered teacher’s mother, Eka Kupatadze, more light was shed on what may have been behind the latest arrests. She said prosecutors had recovered material from the telephone of the female former student to whom Avaliani allegedly paid excessive attention. She further informed that prosecutors have cooperated with Meta, the company that owns Facebook, and also used covert listening devices.
But she added that she had not yet received the latest case files and did not know which specific evidence led to Wednesday’s arrests, Interpressnews reported.
