 Kavtaradze consequently worked for a publishing house, reviewing works of fiction.In late 1936, as the Great Purge was reaching its peak, he and his wife Sofia were suddenly arrested on orders from NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov, accused of "counter-revolutionary activities" and of having conspired with Mdivani to have Stalin assassinated, and sentenced to death.They were both subject to torture in the Lubyanka Prison.