Abkhaz Security Service employee suspected of killing a taxi driver

Taxi driver murdered in Abkhazia

An employee of the State Security Service of Abkhazia, David Ahiba, is suspected of murder. The victim is taxi driver Jero Margania. The likely motive for the murder was an outstanding debt.

Margania lived in the city of Pitsunda. A few days ago he disappeared, and on April 29, in the village of Alakhadzy, Gagra district, his body was found with multiple gunshot wounds on a derelict poultry farm. The corpse was hidden under canvas and construction debris.

The next day, Ahiba was arrested in the casino of the Russian city of Adler in connection witht he murder.

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According to investigators, Ahiba bought a car from Margania, but did not pay 200,000 rubles [about $2,500] of the agreed amount, promising to pay off the debt later. Ahiba put it off several times and in the end killed Margania.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, during the first interrogation Ahiba confessed to his deed, but now he is retracting his testimony. Friends and relatives of the victim fear that the investigating authorities may hush the case up, as the suspect is an employee of the State Security Service and he has influential relatives.

Ahiba previously worked at customs, where he was fired for a disciplinary offense, which did not prevent him from subsequently getting a job in the State Security Service.

Taxi driver murdered in Abkhazia

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