RFE/RL: Georgian Prime Minister Dies
Thursday, 03 February 2005

3 February 2005 — Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania has died by
an apparent gas leak.

Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said in a live broadcast on
Georgian television that Zhvania had been found dead by police in an
apartment in Tbilisi this morning along with an unnamed friend.

It was not immediately clear if Zhvania was in his own apartment or
elsewhere, or whether he died as a result of foul play.

Zhvania, who was 41, was appointed prime minister by President Mikheil
Saakashvili following his election victory in January 2004.

(Reuters/AP/AFP)