Two people were arrested over the purchase and storage of drugs within a probe into the death of Abkhaz blogger Daur Buava, the Interior Ministry said on August 30, adding that one of the suspects gave drugs to Buava’s female friend, who used them with Buava before leaving him in a life-threatening condition.
According to the Ministry, the arrests followed searches in two homes in Tbilisi conducted “based on the circumstances established within the investigation into Daur Buava’s death,” during which “various types of narcotic drugs — marijuana and methadone — packaged in 10 packets were seized as evidence.”
The investigation and questioning established that both suspects were acquainted with Buava and his woman friend, the ministry said, adding that one of the suspects “gave a narcotic substance free of charge” to the woman.
The woman “used the narcotic substance with Daur Buava and then left him in a life-threatening condition without approaching anyone for help,” the Ministry noted.
The arrests came a day after a foreign national woman was arrested on accusations of abandoning Buava in a “critical” and life-threatening condition without seeking help after using drugs with him in a Tbilisi apartment. Buava’s lawyer, Natia Mezvrishvili, later told the media that the woman is a Ukrainian national, and that Buava’s friends and defense do not share the version of drug-related death and plan an alternative forensic study.
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.
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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