On June 27, TV Company Iberia aired a story about the body that was discovered in the so-called “Tabelmanebi” forest of the village Melauri, Samtredia region. Levan Samkharauli Bureau was pointed to with reference of the organization that had conducted a medical expertise and identified the body. LEPL Levan Samkharauli National Forensic Bureau further states:
On January 30, 2015, Forensic Regional Department of West Georgia of the Bureau was addressed by the regional office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) with a request on medical expertise of a body belonging to the person named Viacheslav Briushkov.
It is with strict emphasis that we declare: The investigative authorities had made no request on identifying the body. The examination of the body was finalized on the same day and the status report was sent to MIA referencing the same name as indicated in its request.
Days after, the investigative authorities addressed the Bureau with a request to identify cause of the death of same body, but this time, labelled as unidentified.
Levan Samkharauli National Forensic Bureau issued the conclusion on the cause of death of the respective unidentified person on April 14, 2015.
We underscore that investigative authorities have not addressed the Bureau with a request on body identification and DNA test. For clarification purposes we herein explain the procedural details: the investigative authorities request forensic examination of a body either by indicating a full name or referring to the body as unidentified. Experts of the Bureau are strictly prohibited to interpret questions/requests of investigative authorities. DNA tests are conducted on the basis of requests filed by the investigative authorities only and after submitting the DNA samples for comparison.