Apparent Gas Leak Kills Georgian Premier

Associated Press
February 4, 2005

By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI, Associated Press Writer

TBILISI, Georgia – Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who helped
lead the revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of
Eduard Shevardnadze, was killed Thursday by an apparent natural gas
leak, the ex-Soviet republic’s interior minister said.

Zhvania, 41, was at a friend’s apartment when the leak occurred,
Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said in a live television
broadcast.

“It is an accident,” Merabishvili said. “We can say that poisoning by
gas took place.”

Security guards broke through a window early Thursday when they heard
no signs of life inside the apartment several hours after the prime
minister arrived, Merabishvili said. Zhvania’s host, Zurab Usupov,
deputy governor of Georgia’s Kvemo-Kartli region, also died.

An Iranian-made gas-powered heating stove was in the main room of the
mezzanine-floor apartment, where a table was set up with a backgammon
set lying open. Zhvania was in a chair; Usupov’s body was found in
the kitchen. Security guards tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the
prime minister, Merabishvili said.

“It all happened suddenly,” he said.

Central heating is scarce in Georgia, and many people use gas or wood
stoves in their homes.

President Mikhail Saakashvili convened an emergency Cabinet meeting
following Zhavania’s death. It began with a moment of silence.

“In Zurab Zhvania, Georgia has lost a great patriot, who devoted his
entire life to serving the motherland. Zurab’s death is a great blow
to Georgia and to me personally. I lost a very close friend, a
reliable adviser and a great ally,” Saakashvili said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (news – web sites) sent a telegram of
condolence to Saakashvili, which said that Zhvania “was well known in
Russia as a supporter of the development of friendly, good-neighborly
relations between the Russian and Georgian peoples.”

A longtime politician, Zhvania was part of the opposition to former
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and played a prominent role in
protests that led to Shevardnadze’s ouster after allegedly fraudulent
elections in November 2003.

Saakashvili, who led the protests, named Zhvania prime minister
following his landslide election in January 2004. Zhvania was
considered a moderate to counterbalance the more impetuous president,
and he was one of the key government figures trying to negotiate
settlements with Georgia’s separatist regions.

Zhvania was born in the capital Tbilisi on Dec. 9, 1963. A graduate of
the biology department at Tbilisi State University, he led the Green
of Georgia party in 1988-93 and served in the parliament beginning in
1992.

He became parliamentary speaker in 1995 and led the moderate United
Democrats opposition party, and for several years he and Saakashvili
were rivals for leadership of the opposition.

Like Saakashvili, Zhvania was a one-time ally of Shevardnadze. After
breaking with Shevardnadze, however, Zhvania followed a more
conciliatory path than Saakashvili, and he was considered a more
moderate politician who sought consensus rather than conflict.

Zhvania is survived by his wife and three children.

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