Court acquits driver of 'Krasnogorsk Shooter'
KRASNOGORSK. Nov 17 (Interfax) - The Moscow Regional Court has acquitted Shota Elizbarashvili, the driver of the "Krasnogorsk Shooter," Amiran Georgadze, who killed four people and committed suicide in Krasnogorsk on October 19, 2015, an Interfax correspondent reported.
"The court ruled to acquit Elizbarashvili" for not being implicated in the crimes, the court said in a ruling released on Friday.
The court also recognized Elizbarashvili's right to rehabilitation as prescribed by law - in other words, the right to compensation for damage to property, reparation of non-pecuniary damage, and reinstatement in employment, pension, housing, and other rights.
As reported, on November 15, the jury unanimously found Elizbarashvili not guilty. The court acquitted him on the basis of the jury's verdict.
He was released from custody after being acquitted.
Elizbarashvili was charged with aiding and abetting Georgadze, as well as with the illegal purchase, transfer, storage, transportation, and possession of firearms and ammunition by a group of persons by previous conspiracy.
On October 19, 2015, businessman Amiran Georgadze shot and killed Yury Karaulov, the first deputy head of the Krasnogorsk district administration, and Georgy Kotlyarenko, the general director of the Krasnogorsk Electrical Power Grid Enterprise, at their workplace.
On the same day, Georgadze killed his partner in a construction business, Tristan Zakaidze, and passerby Konstantin Smyslov, a security employee of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. Georgadze was later found dead at a home in Timoshkino; he had committed suicide.
Investigators believed that Elizbarashvili transported Georgadze and his weapons and ammunition from one crime scene to the other, recorded the murders at the district administration on his cell phone, and prevented witnesses from reporting the crimes to law-enforcement agencies.