Tornike Rizhvadze, the former chairman of the Adjara government, has been transported to Turkey for medical treatment. Lali Turdzeladze, the clinical director of the First University Clinic, has announced this.
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Rizhvadze was transferred from Tbilisi to a hospital in Istanbul at approximately 2 AM, at the request of his family. According to Lali Turdzeladze, Rizhvadze's transfer was carried out by air.
"They called for a reanimobile, meaning an airplane. It came from there and transferred Tornike," Turdzeladze stated.
Georgian doctors assessed the patient's health condition as critical but stable, with improved parameters.
On July 7, it was reported that Tornike Rizhvadze, former chairman of the Adjara government, was admitted to the Geohospital clinic in Sagarejo with a gunshot wound to the chest. After surgery, Rizhvadze was transferred to the First University Clinic in Tbilisi. He has a damaged lung.
An investigation into the case has been launched under suspicion of inducing suicide. The Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested Aleksi Akhvlediani, the director of the Maritime Transport Agency, on charges of negligent storage of a firearm. On July 8, the court released him on bail.
According to the prosecution's version, on July 6, Tornike Rizhvadze visited Aleksi Akhvlediani, the head of the Maritime Transport Agency, in Sagarejo. After midnight, between 01:00 and 01:30, he secretly took a firearm belonging to the accused, who “had negligently left the weapon” in a glazed summer house near his residence. According to the official version, Rizhvadze secretly moved the weapon to the guest bedroom and, left alone, shot himself in the chest with the intent to commit suicide.
Government propaganda media outlets disseminated a letter that Tornike Rizhvadze allegedly wrote before his suicide attempt, in which Rizhvadze asked Bidzina Ivanishvili and Kobakhidze to protect his family. Additionally, according to pro-government media, Rizhvadze wrote that he was being accused of corruption and protecting drug dealers.
Prosecutor Nugzar Chitadze confirmed the existence of the letter. He stated that the investigator retrieved it from medical personnel at the Sagarejo hospital, along with Tornike Rizhvadze's clothes. The prosecutor stated that he was unaware of who provided the photo of the letter to the media.
Tornike Rizhvadze, 36, served as the chairman of the government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara for almost seven years. In April 2025, he announced his resignation on social media.
