Prosecutors brought charges of “leaving in danger” against the Ukrainian woman arrested in connection with the death of Abkhaz blogger Daur Buava, after authorities alleged that she abandoned Buava in “life-threatening condition” after taking drugs with him in his Tbilisi apartment.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the woman, Buava’s “acquaintance” identified only by her initials V. K., who was arrested on August 29, visited Buava shortly after midnight on August 23 at his rented apartment in Tbilisi, bringing methadone that the two allegedly consumed together.
The agency, citing V. K.’s testimony, said the woman lost consciousness at around 3 a.m. and regained consciousness only around 9 a.m. on August 25, at which point she found Buava unconscious and breathing heavily. Still unwell and frightened, she allegedly left the apartment without seeking medical assistance or notifying anyone of his condition.
Surveillance footage from Buava’s apartment building allegedly shows V. K., with her face blurred, entering the building early on August 23, welcomed by Buava. The footage later shows Buava leaving the building alone twice on the same night and returning shortly afterward. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, he was not captured on the building’s cameras again. Footage from August 25 allegedly shows the suspect leaving the building while apparently still unwell and being assisted by residents.
According to the Prosecutor’s office, chemical forensic examination “confirmed the facts” of Buava consuming methadone and alcohol, with the agency noting that methadone was also found in the apartment where he had been staying.
V. K. has been charged under Article 128 of the Criminal Code, which covers “leaving [a person] in danger” and carries penalties ranging from a fine to up to two years in prison.
Buava was found dead in the apartment on August 27, reportedly days after his suspected death, after neighbors were alerted by a strong odor. The Interior Ministry said a preliminary inspection of the body found no signs of violence.
Police arrested a total of three people within the probe, including V.K. on allegations of “leaving in danger,” and two more suspects on drug-related charges. The Interior Ministry reported seizing packages of marijuana and methadone from the homes of the latter two suspects, alleging that one of them provided the drugs to the woman, who used them together with Buava.
Buava’s lawyer, Natia Mezvrishvili, told the media that Buava’s friends and lawyers do not share the version of drug-related death and plan an alternative forensic study.
Buava, known on TikTok as Tarielovich and followed by more than 100,000 people, was born in Tkvarcheli, occupied Abkhazia, and moved to Georgia proper in 2021, where he was granted Georgian citizenship under a simplified procedure in 2022. He lived in Tbilisi-controlled territory and published videos promoting Abkhaz-Georgian friendship.
In 2022, the de facto security service of Sokhumi filed charges of high treason against Buava, saying the blogger published videos with “direct and latent appeals to an unlimited circle of users aimed at damaging sovereignty, territorial integrity, national security and defense capacity.”
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