by Georgy Galatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
Georgia is back to solving the riddle of ex-Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania's death. Zhvania was found dead at a secret apartment on February 3, 2005. According to Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili, the PM died of carbon oxide. Few people believe in it. This is why the theory about a group of conspirators responsible for the murder of Zhvania is so topical.
A user named hakim pasha posted photos on YouTube and blames Saakashvili for the murder. What is odd is that the photos were leaked from a top-secret archive of the criminal case initiated over the prime minister’s death. Zurab Zhvania’s brother Gogla admitted that the photos had no new details worth consideration, and he has seen them many times. The question is how were they published if only few people had access to them?
Supporters of ex-President Saakashvili, suspected of murdering his old friend, have accused the government of a poor provocation. Ex-Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration Georgy Baramidze was the first to enter the death scene together with the prime minister’s bodyguards. He urged prosecutors to “make the final decision” of whether to initiate a criminal case over murder or “stop speculations and whipping up fuss over nothing.”
What can the published photos tell us? According to incumbent Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili, they prove that Zhvania had injuries before death and the version about a violent death is justified. Indeed, the photos show clear marks of injuries, bleeding, scratches. But how are they connected with the death and what happened at the secret apartment on the Saburtalo Street where Zhvania, as his bodyguards say, was often having confidential talks?
There is no answer. Prosecutors have arrested medical expert Levan Chachua who had been examining the body after Zhvania’s death. He is accused of negligence because he hid the fact that there violence was used against Zhvania. Chachua denies the accusation and says that the bruises and scratches were of no significance or relation to death. The claim is quite dubious because any scratch on the body is still registered.
The government is so decisive in the story that it considers exhumation of Zhvania 9 years after his burial at the Diduby Pantheon of notable public figures. His friends can hardly do anything against it, though many urge the government to leave the prime minister in his grave together with the secret of his death.
