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Illustration: "Novaya Gazeta Europe"
Tbilisi, late evening of March 14, 22:35. Two men exit the entrance of a building on Chavchavadze Avenue, in Vake, the city’s most prestigious district, with its wide sidewalks, bike lanes, university facades, and the storefronts of expensive shops and banks.
One of them is 58-year-old businessman Levan Jangveladze, the brother of Merab "Sukhumsky," one of the most influential thieves-in-law in the entire post-Soviet space.
A few hours earlier, Jangveladze had flown from Moscow to Tbilisi for the funeral of a close friend. He arrived late to the wake, when only family members remained in the house. He asked passersby for the address, and, as the investigation later established, the man who showed him the correct entrance turned out to be the hitman: he had arrived at the house as early as 20:40. After the memorial meal, Jangveladze and his companion headed toward a car parked nearby. A driver who also served as a bodyguard was waiting in the vehicle. So Jangveladze walked calmly along the sidewalk, where there were few people. As he passed a bench, he looked at what seemed to be a familiar person sitting there, an inconspicuous man in a raincoat and a cap pulled down over his forehead. The hitman stood up, took a few steps after the victim, then pulled a pistol from under his coat, waited a little to let a random couple of passersby go by, then approached quickly, shouted something, and opened fire on Jangveladze. The companion ran aside, and Jangveladze himself also tried to flee, but soon collapsed dead on a pedestrian crossing. Then several more shots rang out, this time at the legs of the approaching driver, and the killer disappeared onto a neighboring street. The entire scene lasted about 30 seconds: 11 shots were fired, five bullets hit Jangveladze, three in the chest and two in the head.
This is how the boldest and most high-profile murder of 2025 in Georgia took place. Thanks to the cameras covering the entire avenue, journalists reconstructed the event almost second by second. But understanding the real motives behind the crime, which involves both Georgian and Russian thieves-in-law, the Russian FSB, and the authorities of Georgian Dream, turned out to be much more difficult.
Nine months after the high-profile murder, just before New Year’s, Georgia’s Interior Ministry made a sensational statement, accusing former Chief Prosecutor Otar Partskhaladze of organizing the crime. He was named the main заказчик of Levan Jangveladze’s murder and put on an international wanted list. Since June 2025, Partskhaladze has not appeared in Georgia; he is now hiding in Russia. The former prosecutor’s Tbilisi lawyer has already said that his client does not admit guilt.
This accusation came as a complete surprise, given that throughout the investigation Partskhaladze had never even been summoned for questioning, although his possible involvement in the case seemed obvious.
Although Partskhaladze held the post of prosecutor more than 10 years ago, he still remained an almost untouchable figure, primarily because he belongs to the inner circle of Georgia’s shadow ruler, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Investigative authorities ignored accusations against Partskhaladze for years, even though they involved major embezzlement from the state budget, racketeering, and even public beatings of civil servants. He escaped responsibility even after the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions on him for cooperation with the Russian FSB. And then suddenly, a criminal case carrying a possible sentence of 16 to 20 years in prison, effectively a ban on returning to Georgia.
Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, speaking on behalf of the authorities, thanked law enforcement for solving the high-profile case, but immediately warned that securing Partskhaladze’s extradition from Russia "will not be easy."
It became clear back in October that attitudes toward Partskhaladze had changed, when a notable "purge" of Ivanishvili’s inner circle began. The updated leadership of the State Security Service suddenly, without explaining its motives, told the public that it had mobilized 230 officers for simultaneous searches of the homes of three former officials and "persons associated with them": a former prime minister, a former head of the State Security Service itself, and the former prosecutor.
The results were shocking: stacks of cash, gold bars, and numerous pieces of jewelry with a total value of $7.22 million. One could say that Partskhaladze has so far been treated more gently than anyone else, since former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has already been sentenced to five years and recently went to prison in a case involving concealment of illegal income, while former State Security Service head Grigol Liluashvili has ended up behind bars on charges of large-scale corruption.
Otar Partskhaladze’s career as chief prosecutor turned out to be a sprint: he remained in the post for only 40 days. In 2013, Partskhaladze became the second chief prosecutor under the Georgian Dream government. Before him, the post was held by Archil Kbilashvili, an experienced attorney and lawyer who actively cooperated with Bidzina Ivanishvili during the election campaign. Kbilashvili intended to carry out a liberal reform of the prosecutor’s office but found no support among his allies and left a year later.
Unlike his predecessor, Partskhaladze was not an outstanding lawyer, but he did have experience working in the financial police, where he had ended up under Mikheil Saakashvili’s government. The little-known Otar Partskhaladze was appointed to the high post thanks to personal ties: his grandson was baptized by Bera Ivanishvili, the son of the Georgian Dream leader. He had to leave office after the opposition questioned his diploma and also published documents according to which the man in the chief prosecutor’s chair had been convicted in absentia in Germany in 2001 for shoplifting. Partskhaladze was forced to admit these facts, although he claimed it was not a criminal offense but an argument with a police officer.
Even after leaving the prosecutor’s office, Partskhaladze retained enormous influence. However, his attention soon shifted to Russia, where he obtained citizenship in 2022.
People in Tbilisi began widely talking about Partskhaladze’s transformation into a "Russian oligarch of Georgian origin" only in September 2023, after the publication of a U.S. State Department sanctions list. Partskhaladze was placed under American sanctions as a person "whom the Federal Security Service (FSB) has used to influence Georgian society and advance policies in favor of Russia." According to the State Department, Partskhaladze derived personal benefit from ties to the FSB: in Russia he owned two consulting companies whose activities are allegedly linked to "sanctions evasion and enabling Russia to continue its war against Ukraine."
The Georgian opposition is convinced that Partskhaladze’s main work in Russia is carrying out Bidzina Ivanishvili’s secret assignments.
And if Partskhaladze failed to enter politics in Georgia, in Moscow he is actively promoting rapprochement between Georgia and Russia. In January 2023, he created the "people’s movement 'Russian Georgians.'" The organization’s press release says that it was Partskhaladze who achieved the resumption of air travel between Russia and Georgia and the Kremlin’s lifting of visas for Georgian citizens.
However, Giorgi Kajaia, the current adviser to Georgia’s prime minister on relations with Russia, is skeptical of such statements. Answering journalists’ questions, the career diplomat, clearly irritated by the former prosecutor general’s triumphant claims, said that "all this is just words, and Partskhaladze had nothing to do with the reopening of air traffic."
Meanwhile, Partskhaladze’s associate, Russian businessman of Georgian origin Mamuka Pipia, claims that
the leader of Russian Georgians is a "guest expert of the State Duma CIS committee" and takes part in discussions on restoring diplomatic relations between the countries
and reopening railway traffic through occupied Abkhazia, something Moscow has been hinting to Tbilisi about for many years.
Mamuka Pipia himself recently caused a major stir by demanding the signing of a "new Treaty of Georgievsk," under which Georgia would recognize Russia’s protectorate. Pipia claims that the organization gathered signatures from "100,000 citizens" in support of the idea, so the Georgian authorities should seriously consider restoring diplomatic relations with Russia, which were severed after the 2008 war.
A Russian passenger train travels along the Black Sea coast in Abkhazia, Georgia, November 20, 2024. Photo: Anatoly Zhdanov / Kommersant / Sipa USA / Vida Press
Apparently, to fully emphasize his new status, in 2024 Partskhaladze added a new, Russian surname to his Georgian one: Romanov. Asked by Georgian journalists how this happened, Pipia breathlessly said that in Russia they created "an entire commission that studied the history and established that Partskhaladze has ties to the Russian imperial family."
Another step up in status: Partskhaladze became a "peace ambassador" of Russia’s " Federation for Universal Peace ". Among the organization’s recent activities is a "collection of plastic bottle caps for further recycling." As for peace, it is represented there by speakers enthusiastically discussing Putin’s "direct line" and expecting the establishment of the "Russian world" in Ukraine.
Recently, the organization presented Partskhaladze with a certificate under glass in a gilded frame bearing the inscription "Ambassador for peace." Speaking as an ambassador, Partskhaladze promised on camera to "develop relations between Russia and Georgia, because for Georgia Russia is like a big brother."
The newly minted Romanov speaks Russian with a very strong accent.
Two months after his brother’s murder, in June 2025, Merab "Sukhumsky" convened a thieves’ gathering in Italy, where participants "sentenced" Otar Partskhaladze to death.
Many heavyweights of the criminal world came to this gathering. Even "Shakro Molodoy," Tbilisi-born Zakhary Kalashov, who is now considered in Russia to be "thief-in-law No. 1," took part in the conversation by video link. Almost all the thieves supported the sentence, including Shakro himself. And not only because Levan was Merab "Sukhumsky’s" brother: the businessman also carried his own weight in criminal circles, a thief-in-law who asked to be called Artur told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
According to him,
Levan was considered in the thieves’ community a genius of shady deals and trading operations that made it possible not only to evade duties and excise taxes but also to launder large sums.
He handled both his brother’s finances and provided services to other "authorities," for example such a well-known thief-in-law as "Taro," Tariel Oniani.
"Levan started back in Soviet times and rose a lot since then," Artur explained. "In 1991, Jangveladze helped secure the early release of 'Yaponchik' (thief-in-law Vyacheslav Ivankov. Ed. note). Even then he had friends and acquaintances in many different spheres. He resolved issues at the level of deputy ministers and generals in the Interior Ministry and the FSB. And at the same time he tried to stay out of the spotlight and not get into politics. Maybe that’s why he lived so long.
Otar Romanov-Partskhaladze receiving the 'Peace Ambassador' diploma. Photo: "Federation for Universal Peace"
It is no surprise that he got in many people’s way, taking away a huge share of their profits. For a long time he was protected by the authority of his brother, Merab 'Sukhumsky.' Everything changed when Partskhaladze appeared and decided that administrative resources mattered more than thieves’ protection. The former prosecutor started getting into schemes where no one expected him and where everything had long since been divided up.
The public accusation of the former prosecutor general in Levan Jangvaladze’s murder was a real New Year’s gift for Merab. I won’t lie, I don’t know who and how much Merab paid in Georgia’s Interior Ministry for this accusation to be voiced."
At the same time, there are rumors in criminal circles that after the declaration of a "thieves’ vendetta," Otar Partskhaladze began to be guarded by FSB special forces.
And a criminal case was opened in Moscow against Merab "Sukhumsky" under Article 210.1 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy").
However, Merab "Sukhumsky" was banned from entering Russia back in 2016 on charges of illegally obtaining Russian citizenship, punishable by 8 to 15 years in prison. Therefore, the new charge was seen in criminal circles as a reminder that Merab had not been forgotten and that his actions were being watched.
"For his part, Merab launched a 'response' and declared that whoever carries out the sentence of the thieves’ gathering will be crowned immediately. Not everyone in our world agreed with this, but the word was spoken. And all the 'wanderers' understood that even if they were not crowned, the gratitude of Merab 'Sukhumsky' would be substantial."
After charges were brought against Partskhaladze, many in Tbilisi rushed to accuse Georgian Dream as well, saying that the case against the former prosecutor was opened only after pressure from criminal bosses. However, the fact that Partskhaladze may not be able to return to Georgia for some time can hardly be considered full satisfaction: thieves-in-law with Georgian surnames have themselves long since become rare visitors to Georgia. It seems that
after Georgian Dream disowned Partskhaladze, the former prosecutor can rely only on patrons in Moscow.
Meanwhile, Russian law enforcement agencies have so far made no comment on the accusation against Partskhaladze-Romanov.
"Personally, I don’t really believe that the accusation against Partskhaladze-Romanov was pushed through by the thieves’ community," retired FSB Colonel Vladimir V. told Novaya Gazeta Europe. "Merab 'Sukhumsky' is, of course, a very authoritative thief, but hardly so powerful that, while abroad, he could give orders to Georgia’s interior minister or general prosecutor’s office. Most likely, this is some kind of multi-step combination. Perhaps Partskhaladze somehow bucked, and to tie him more securely to themselves, they decided at Lubyanka to 'tighten the leash.' Otherwise I do not understand at all what our agents of influence are doing in Georgia. And the events of the last several years show that such agents do exist in Georgia and function quite normally."
Levan Jangveladze. Photo: primecrime.ru
And yet the coincidence is telling: whereas in the first months the investigation stubbornly pursued a completely unconvincing version that the killer, with a gun in his pocket, had almost accidentally encountered Levan Jangveladze in Vake and shot him because of a personal grudge, in August, two months after the declaration of the "thieves’ vendetta," the case saw a breakthrough. The prosecutor’s office finally made impressive arrests, and the discussion turned to a genuine contract killing.
The hitman, 50-year-old former special forces officer Gela Udzilauri, was detained on the third day after the murder. Immediately after the shooting in central Tbilisi, he took a taxi to a monastery, where, they say, he prayed all night, and the next day unsuccessfully tried to move into the Tskhinvali region, which is not controlled by the Georgian authorities. Returning to Tbilisi, Udzilauri just as unsuccessfully kept calling his immediate employer, businessman Giorgi Jokhadze, for whom he worked as a security guard. According to the case materials,
Jokhadze promised that Udzilauri "would not stay long" in prison, but in the end he himself had to leave the country, because the prosecutor’s office put him on the wanted list too.
In August, along with Giorgi Jokhadze, brothers Giorgi and Davit Mikadze were accused of organizing the premeditated murder. They are considered representatives of the Georgian business elite and people from Otar Partskhaladze’s circle.
Giorgi Mikadze holds dual Georgian and Canadian citizenship. Before his arrest, he chaired the supervisory board of Hospitality Management Group - M|Group. The company owns prestigious restaurants Kvarelis Tba, Puris Sakhli, Monograph, and Maspindzelo. Davit Mikadze owns 45% of the shares of MyPhone, a VoIP service provider, whose revenue in 2023 amounted to 2.4 million lari, about one million dollars.
Businessman Giorgi Mikadze, like the other organizers of the murder, faces up to 20 years in prison. He has already spent half a year in Rustavi high-security prison No. 6. According to Georgian media, inmates acting on instructions from Georgian thieves-in-law abroad periodically subject him to "shumok," that is, psychological terror. His brother Davit Mikadze, charged in absentia with organizing the murder, fled abroad and has been placed on the wanted list.
Two accomplices in the crime also went to prison, charged under the articles "illegal weapons possession" and "concealment of a crime," for which they may face up to 11 years in prison.
Alongside the charges against influential businessmen, the investigation voiced a version involving another legendary crime boss, 75-year-old Aslan Usoyan, known as Ded Hasan.
The grave of Aslan Usoyan (Ded Hasan) at Khovanskoye Cemetery in Moscow, January 20, 2013. Photo: Andrey Smirnov / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Ded Hasan was killed in Moscow in January 2013. He was a Kurdish Yezidi, originally from Tbilisi, and for many years headed one of the largest criminal clans operating in Russia.
Jangveladze relative Mikhail Berdzenishvili reminded the Tbilisi City Court in his testimony that the Jangveladze brothers had been accused of Ded Hasan’s murder. And since the Mikadze brothers were considered linked to the Usoyan family "as godfathers," Jangveladze feared a trick from their side.
"I allowed myself only once to ask Levan about Ded Hasan’s murder, because the Jangveladze brothers were sometimes mentioned in connection with it. But Levan told me that he had nothing to do with this man or his murder," Berdzenishvili said at the trial.
He also confirmed that Levan Jangveladze’s meetings in Tbilisi with the Mikadze brothers and Otar Partskhaladze almost always ended in arguments.
The version that Ded Hasan’s grandson Irakli Usoyan might allegedly have ordered Levan Dangveladze’s murder was voiced in court in September by investigator Robiko Gogiashvili.
At the same hearing, Otar Partskhaladze’s name was mentioned for the first time at the trial. The investigator presented the information as "operational information" from an informant whose name he did not disclose, and the court did not request it. According to this version:
- Otar Partskhaladze and the Mikadze brothers had strained relations with Jangveladze because of cigarette and alcohol exports to Russia;
- the Mikadze brothers did not dare resort to physical force because Levan’s brother is a "thief-in-law";
- Irakli Usoyan, who according to Russian media is following in his grandfather’s footsteps, ordered Otar Partskhaladze and the Mikadze brothers to kill Jangveladze for five million dollars.
The investigator also tried to explain why the hitman Udzilauri had been briefly sent to Greece before the murder: "so that the investigation would connect this with the thieves-in-law who are there," that is, with the version of revenge being prepared.
To refute this version, fugitive Davit Mikadze contacted Georgian media. In an online interview, he said that "the data of some police investigator is unsupported slander and lies," and that "under such circumstances he does not intend to return," although he is "not hiding" and is ready to answer the investigation’s questions.
In the thieves’ world, the version that the Jangveladze brothers had been involved in Ded Hasan’s murder ten years ago was indeed considered, but it was never confirmed. Although Levan Jangveladze had financial dealings with Tariel Oniani, who was hostile to Ded Hasan, the Jangveladze brothers maintained good relations with Shakro Molodoy as well. And after Shakro took part in the gathering in Italy and supported the "sentence" against Partskhaladze, it would be wrong to speak of revenge on the part of the Usoyans, informed Novaya-Europe sources say.
Illustration: "Novaya Gazeta Europe"
The final witnesses at the trial in Tbilisi were two Russian businesspeople, a man and a woman, who flew in specially from Moscow to attend the December 26 hearing. Both introduced themselves as people from Levan Jangveladze’s inner circle and told the court about the confrontation between the murdered businessman, Otar Partskhaladze, and the Mikadze brothers. Their testimony also indicated that the conflict began about a year before the murder and concerned the import of alcohol and cigarettes. This testimony proved sufficient to accuse Partskhaladze.
One of the Russian witnesses, Ilya Mikulsky, said that in February 2025 he met Levan Jangveladze at the Severyane restaurant in Moscow, and Jangveladze complained to him about hostility from Partskhaladze.
"He told me that he had problems with one man who, although he was from Georgia, lived in Moscow, where he had influence, and was capable of anything. He expected a threat to his own life from him. He named this man, Otari, and said his Georgian surname, although I did not remember it. However, I remembered his Russian surname, Romanov... After Levan’s murder I remembered his Georgian surname as well: Partskhaladze.
He told me that they had a confrontation over the transport of cigarettes and alcohol, because in that business their paths crossed and they turned from good acquaintances into enemies...
He also told me that Otar Romanov had trusted people in Georgia with the surname Mikadze, who carried out his assignments."
The Georgian lawyer for the Jangveladze family, Tariel Kakabadze, has no doubt that the organizers of the murder "had high-ranking patrons."
As early as late October, the lawyer pointed out that the case contained a version involving Partskhaladze that was not being investigated. "We will not allow anyone to remain unpunished in this case. The prosecutor’s office said it could not bring charges on the basis of several testimonies ... The investigation of the factual circumstances of the case could have been conducted within several days after what happened. However, instead of an investigation, an operation to confuse and conceal was deliberately carried out. For example, the seizure of phones took place only three months after the murder."
Illustration: "Novaya Gazeta Europe"
In the Georgian opposition, almost everyone agrees that the murder in central Tbilisi could have been the result of a war over the redistribution of spheres of influence in Russia. The main problem, in the opposition’s view, is that the Georgian Dream authorities do not distinguish boundaries between crime and state institutions.
Opposition politician and former Georgian Dream member Dmitry Tskitishvili believes that "there have apparently been rearrangements in the Russian mafia, and Tbilisi has become the periphery of a large criminal syndicate."
"When the U.S. accused Partskhaladze of ties to the FSB, the entire state structure stood up to defend him, and now he has been charged because of ties to crime. It turns out that our state acts under the dictates of criminal syndicates while completely ignoring state interests. Georgia has become a territory for the settling of scores of the Russian criminal world."
Tskitishvili believes that both Jangveladze and Partskhaladze were participants in agreements on illegal transit, and that the authorities most likely knew perfectly well about it:
"Apparently, Partskhaladze is no longer needed as much as before, so they decided to sacrifice him. Perhaps these channels now have other curators, less problematic than Partskhaladze. Ivanishvili is used to easily sacrificing people he no longer needs. And he apparently did this for the sake of relations with the criminal world that controls this shadow business in Georgia and Russia."
Giorgi Shaishmelashvili
Member of the Freedom Square party
"In states with remnants of the Soviet legacy, there have been cases when prosecutors general 'ordered' murders, but usually this was connected with political goals, for example the murders of well-known journalists. But for a prosecutor general to be involved in showdowns between criminal syndicates and to be a party to them, such a precedent is difficult to find either in Georgia in the 1990s or in the post-Soviet space in general. It is hard even to imagine. Of course, Ivanishvili himself permitted all these arrests. Most likely, he is trying to free himself from the 'legacy' that the party received in 2012. In addition, [because of sanctions] he is experiencing financial constraints and decided to accumulate money within his own circle, where, as he discovered, more was being stolen than he had allowed for." Shaishmelashvili is also convinced that the purges in Ivanishvili’s inner circle should "show the electorate positive dynamics: that the government has changed, and an internal coup has already taken place."
Gia Khukhashvili
Political scientist, former adviser to Bidzina Ivanishvili
"The authorities and crime have fused because that is how they [the leaders of Georgian Dream] perceive the world: power is built not on institutional order but governed 'by concepts,' which implies close relations with crime, with mutual benefit. Starting with elections, when criminal bosses stand near polling stations, and ending with prisons, where the 'thieves’ order' is returning under talk that prisons are otherwise hard to manage. Ivanishvili’s worldview was formed in Russia, where everything is mixed together, and you cannot tell where the authorities are, where crime is, and where the special services are. He never studied politics, he does not know what state institutions are... When he was prime minister [in 2013], a misunderstanding arose between two business groups, and they were going to hold a meeting. At that time Ivanishvili called me and said he would also take part in that conversation. A big mafia war is happening now. [After Jangveladze’s murder] fingers pointed at people in Ivanishvili’s circle, and he had to demonstrate that he had nothing to do with it. But his opponents saw weakness in this. Their appetite grew, and now Ivanishvili will be methodically limited, with ties being established directly with government members. I believe that in the end this situation will work against Ivanishvili and is part of an operation to 'sterilize' him. Look: those who were in Ivanishvili’s inner circle, those who represented his interests, are today either in prison, or soon will be, or are on the run... Ivanishvili made many mistakes. Now the issue is not so much revenge for a family member as the redistribution of large financial flows, shadow businesses. I do not rule out that we will hear more gunfire in this type of showdown, because everyone has already entered a heavy spiral, and neither side has a way back. We are witnessing a classic mafia war."