Georgia: One year later, doubts about Zhvania's death linger on

Molly Corso 2/03/06

A year after the death of Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, questions still surround the official investigation into his unexpected demise. While the government maintains that both Zhvania and political associate Raul Usupov died of carbon monoxide poisoning, neither Zhvania's family nor the Georgian press have fully accepted the official version.

In a rare televised public appearance on January 29, Zhvania's widow, Nino Kadgidze, spoke openly about her doubts. "When my husband died, in that minute it was clear that a period had been placed [after the official explanation]: ‘Zhvania died from gas [poisoning].' After that I began to doubt that the investigation was being conducted correctly."

According to the official version of events, the former prime minister and Usupov both died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a malfunctioning gas heater in the early hours of February 3, 2005. From the start of the investigation, government officials have consistently referred to the deaths as "accidental."

Kadgidze's interview was not the first time the family has voiced concern about the government's investigation. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In May 2005, Kadgidze and her brother-in-law, Giorgi Zhvania, appeared on the pro-opposition television station 202 to demand that the government invite independent, foreign experts to investigate the case. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli later told the family that an independent investigation would be held, Zhvania claims.

However, eight months later, Giorgi Zhvania maintains that the president's promises led to nothing. No experts came to Georgia and nothing has changed in the investigation, he said in a recent telephone interview with EurasiaNet. "No international investigation was held; no one was invited," Zhvania stated.

A spokesperson for the office of General Prosecutor Zurab Adeishvili confirmed that no experts have been invited to Georgia to investigate the case apart from a team of specialists from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who arrived shortly after the late prime minister's death. The team later confirmed the Georgian government's findings that carbon monoxide poisoning had caused Zhvania's death.

The spokesperson, who did not give her name, stated only that reporters interested in further information about the planned international investigation should "ask Zhvania's brother."

According to Giorgi Zhvania, there are several aspects of the current investigation that concern the family. In a May 2005 interview with EurasiaNet, Zhvania outlined three main inconsistencies with the government's case: (1) the lack of cigarettes at the scene of the prime minister's death despite the fact that Zurab Zhvania was a heavy smoker; (2) discrepancies between the working Georgian-language version of the FBI report and the official English language version concerning the levels of carbon monoxide found in the apartment; (3) phone records from the mobile phone provider MagtiCom that indicate Zhvania's bodyguards were several miles away from the apartment where Zhvania supposedly was meeting with Usupov during the early hours of February 3.

"I think the crime was committed in a different place," Giorgi Zhvania said during a recent interview on the privately owned television channel Imedi. " I don't know about [Raul] Usupov, but my brother's body was brought there from a different place."

Discrepancies also dog reports about the natural gas supply in Saburtalo, the Tbilisi district where the apartment in which Zhvania and Usupov reportedly died is located. Zhvania's bodyguards stated that they heard a "hiss" of gas when they broke into the apartment after Zhvania failed to answer repeated phone calls. However, according to Tbilgazi, the city's gas company, supplies of natural gas to Saburtalo had been temporarily cut more than an hour and a half before the guards found Zhvania.

The prosecutor's office refused to comment about details of the ongoing investigation. "The investigation continues," the press secretary said. "What else should the general prosecutor be doing?"

How the family of Zurab Zhvania plans to pursue the investigation remains unknown. In a recent interview on Imedi, Kadgidze stated that she believes "powers" in Russia are behind Zhvania's death – a charge frequently echoed by ordinary Georgians. Giorgi Zhvania told EurasiaNet that he has "no plans" right now to take any further action.

Eliso Chapishvili, a journalist who has covered Zhvania's death and the subsequent investigation for the Georgian newspaper Rezonansi (Resonance), believes that fear is the reason for the family's caution. "Everyone [in the Georgian media] had a fear of some kind. I myself even felt that way at some point," she said.

Chapishvili stated that the government's growing reluctance and eventual refusal to answer questions surrounding the late prime minister's death fueled her doubts about the case. Aside from Giorgi Zhvania's concerns, the journalist points to reports she received from unnamed individuals, allegedly among the first to arrive on the scene of Zhvania's death, who stated that no cigarette butts had been found in the apartment. A special report aired a few days after Zhvania's death by Rustavi-2, a privately owned Georgian television station with close ties to the government, showed images of numerous cigarette butts in the apartment, however.

When Chapishvili's story was published in Rezonansi, "Rustavi-2 aired a report where there were lots of cigarette butts, something like 43," she recalled. "One person could not have smoked that much, so my doubts got even stronger."

But, at this point, she stressed, too little is known to jump to conclusions about the case. "I can't say that it was murder or that a tragic accident occurred because I don't know. But I am looking for the truth," she said.

Chapishvili also dismissed reports that President Saakashvili has asked the Georgian media to stay away from the story, noting that the president himself has said that the case should be aggressively investigated. "Everything is quiet ... we have a lot of social problems so people don't think about his death a lot," she explained. "But a lot of people believe that he was killed."

A front page headline in the January 30-February 5 edition of the weekly newspaper Akhali Versia (New Version) echoed that lingering suspicion: "Did He Die or Did They Kill Him? One Year of Doubts."

Editor's Note: Molly Corso is a freelance photographer and writer based in Tbilisi. This story also contains reporting by Kakha Jibladze.

Posted February 3, 2006 © Eurasianet