Georgia PM dies in apparent gas leak
Zhvania helped topple corruption-tainted regime in 2003
The Associated Press
Feb. 3, 2005
TBILISI, Georgia – Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who helped
lead the revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of
Eduard Shevardnadze, was killed early 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 broadcast on
Rustavi-2 television.
`It is an accident,’ Merabishvili said. `We can say that poisoning by
gas took place.’
‘It all happened suddenly’ Security guards broke through a window
early Thursday when they heard no signs of life inside several hours
after the prime minister arrived, Merabishvili said. Zhvania had
entered the apartment at about midnight and the guards broke in
between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.
His host, Raul 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.
`It all happened suddenly,’ Merabishvili said.
Central heating is scarce in Georgia and many people use gas or wood
stoves in their homes.
Lead role in opposing Shevardnadze 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.
President Mikhail Saakashvili, who led the protests, named Zhvania
prime minister following his landslide election in January
2004. Zhvania was considered a moderate to counterbalance to 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.