Status boundary: Murder convictions were entered against named defendants, but their procedural paths and sentences differ. Criticism of investigators and officials is reported as a documented institutional finding or allegation—not as a criminal conviction where none was located.
A school conflict moved to Khorava Street
The confrontation began after a dispute among students at Tbilisi Public School No. 51. More teenagers became involved, and the conflict moved to a yard on Khorava Street. Levan Dadunashvili died at the scene. Davit Saralidze, who had sustained multiple injuries, died in hospital the next day.
Both victims were 16. Because defendants and witnesses were juveniles, much of the original proceeding was closed under Georgia's Juvenile Justice Code. This page identifies people only where courts and established public reporting later named them.
The first trial and an incomplete finding
On 31 May 2018, the Tbilisi City Court convicted Guga Barbakadze of Levan Dadunashvili's murder. It convicted Giorgi Janashia of attempting to murder Davit Saralidze, but did not accept the prosecution's initial group-murder theory as charged. Juvenile-sentencing rules reduced the custodial terms to ten years and six months for Barbakadze and nine years and nine months for Janashia.
The judgment did not identify everyone responsible for Saralidze's fatal wounds. That gap triggered large protests led by his father, Zaza Saralidze, and contributed to Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze's resignation. Public concern focused on missing evidence, contradictory testimony and possible interference by people connected to the prosecution service.
Appeal and Supreme Court outcomes
On 3 June 2019, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals found Janashia guilty of participating in Saralidze's group murder and increased both his and Barbakadze's terms to eleven years and three months. It left Barbakadze convicted only of Dadunashvili's murder.
On 28 January 2020, the Supreme Court approved a plea agreement with Janashia. His sentence became eight years, divided into four years' imprisonment and four years suspended; he had already served about two years. The court upheld Barbakadze's eleven-year-and-three-month term for Dadunashvili's murder.
The plea agreement was criticized by Saralidze's representatives because they were not notified in writing before the Supreme Court considered it. That procedural criticism is preserved separately from the court's finding of guilt.
Later convictions in Saralidze's murder
Mikheil Kalandia, initially treated as a key witness, was arrested in June 2019. On 25 February 2020, the Tbilisi City Court convicted him of Saralidze's intentional group murder. A fifteen-year sentence was reduced under juvenile law to eleven years and three months. The Court of Appeals upheld the conviction and term in July 2020.
Giorgi Menabde was arrested in April 2021. On 11 January 2022, the Tbilisi City Court convicted him of Saralidze's premeditated murder and imposed fourteen years, reduced to ten years and six months under juvenile-sentencing rules. His lawyers announced an appeal; no reliable source reviewed for this page established a final higher-court disposition.
Documented investigative failures
Georgia's Public Defender reviewed the files and identified serious deficiencies in the collection and presentation of evidence. The office concluded that the facts could indicate official negligence, abuse of authority or both, depending on intent, and recommended a criminal investigation into the conduct of people responsible for the original inquiry.
The Human Rights Center's chronology likewise recorded delayed investigative acts, missing or erased electronic communications, disputed witness handling and unresolved questions about concealment. These findings explain why murder convictions coexist with continuing concern about institutional accountability.
They do not establish that every official criticized committed a crime. The archive found no complete final record showing that criminal responsibility for the investigative failures was adjudicated.
Current status
The criminal record contains four murder-related convictions: Barbakadze for Dadunashvili's murder, and Janashia, Kalandia and Menabde in relation to Saralidze's group murder. The latest first-instance verdict located was Menabde's January 2022 conviction. Accountability for alleged official negligence, abuse or interference remains unresolved in the reviewed sources.
Questions that remain
- What was the final appellate outcome of Giorgi Menabde's conviction?
- Did any criminal investigation establish responsibility for the original inquiry's documented failures?
- Were missing or erased electronic communications ever recovered?
- Did later proceedings resolve every alleged concealment role?
Sources and methodology
- Human Rights Center — Khorava Street Teenage Murder Case chronology2020 · incident, first judgment, appeals, Supreme Court outcomes and institutional concerns.
- Public Defender of Georgia — proposal to investigate official misconduct2018 · documented investigative deficiencies and requested accountability.
- Civil Georgia — Court of Appeals judgment3 June 2019 · Barbakadze and Janashia convictions and sentences.
- Civil Georgia — Mikheil Kalandia conviction25 February 2020 · group-murder finding and juvenile-adjusted term.
- Civil Georgia — Giorgi Menabde conviction11 January 2022 · verdict, sentence reduction and announced appeal.
- OC Media — appellate ruling and remaining investigative gap3 June 2019 · independent account of the appeal and public response.
Editorial review: Court reporting establishes defendant-specific convictions. The Public Defender and Human Rights Center are used to document procedural failures without turning institutional criticism into unproved individual guilt.
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