10:53, 22 July 2025

Tbilisi court upholds life sentence for murder of transgender woman

The Tbilisi Court of Appeal upheld the life sentence of Beka Jaini, who was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Kesaria Abramidze. The court and the investigation concluded that the murder was committed with particular cruelty and was related to gender intolerance.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, on September 18, 2024, 37-year-old Kesaria Abramidze, the most famous transgender woman in Georgia, who represented Georgia in a transgender beauty pageant in 2018, was killed. Politicians, activists, and ordinary Georgians attended her funeral. In April, the court sentenced Beka Jaiani to life imprisonment, finding him guilty of the murder of Kesaria Abramidze.

According to the prosecutor's office, about a week before the murder, Abramidze and Jaiani had "disagreements over a personal matter," which led to their separation. The accused himself said that he came to Abramidze's home and "due to a disagreement motivated by revenge," first hit her and then stabbed her 28 times, causing Kesaria Abramidze to die on the spot. According to Jaiani, about 20 minutes later, he left the apartment and went to the apartment of his relative, where he changed his bloody T-shirt, and then left Tbilisi by taxi. He was detained on his way to Senaki, near Kopitnari airport.

The Tbilisi Court of Appeals upheld the life sentence for the murder of transgender woman Kesaria Abramidze.

The defense unsuccessfully tried to appeal the sentence of Beka Jaiani, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in April this year by the Tbilisi City Court. He was found guilty of premeditated murder committed with particular cruelty and motivated by intolerance related to the gender identity of the victim, as well as systematic beating for the same reasons, the agency "News Georgia" reported today.

Recall that attacks on transgender people periodically occur in Georgia. Thus, on October 31, 2021, two Tbilisi residents attacked two transgender women with knives, as a result of which one died and the other was wounded. The police detained one of the attackers. On September 28 of the same year, the police also reported the arrest of a Tbilisi resident for beating a transgender woman.

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Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/413234