Eurasia Insight:
OPPOSITION CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO EXAMINE ZHVANIA’S DEATH
Molly Corso: 2/10/05

An opposition leader has called on President Mikheil Saakashvili to form an independent commission to investigate the death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, saying that the government’s handling of the case has raised more questions than answers. Meanwhile, an independent medical expert and government critic who has questioned the Interior Ministry’s findings says that she now fears for her safety.

In a fiery exchange on February 10 following the president’s annual state of the nation speech to parliament, David Gamkrelidze, leader of the opposition New Rights-Industrialists Party, called on Saakashvili to appoint a commission of parliamentarians to investigate the circumstances surrounding Zhvania’s death. “Society wonders whether [Zhvania’s death] was a tragic accident or a murder,” Gamkrelidze declared at the session. Carbon monoxide asphyxiation caused by an apartment’s malfunctioning gas heater has been cited as the official cause of Zhvania’s February 3 demise.

“Unfortunately, the officials investigating [Zhvania’s death] discredited themselves in the eyes of the public when they immediately reported the cause of death as carbon monoxide poisoning,” Gamkrelidze later said in a phone interview with EurasiaNet, adding that investigators’ work has been “anything but transparent.”

“In the interest of our country, we should have a special commission to investigate,” he went on to say. “The answer provided by the commission will be more believable to the people than the official version.”

In the past week, media speculation concerning the circumstances of Zhvania’s death have increased, with particular scrutiny paid to government claims that an incorrectly installed Iranian gas heater was to blame. Speaking in parliament, however, Saakashvili denied that the investigation into the prime minister’s death has concealed relevant evidence and rejected the demand for an independent commission. “We have nothing to hide,” he said. “I trust our law enforcement agencies and I advise you to trust them.” Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze seconded the president’s stance, stating that “[t]here is no reason yet to doubt the information provided by the investigation.”

The president also cited investigators’ collaboration with a team from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which arrived in Tbilisi on February 8 to review evidence from the scene of Zhvania’s death and a February 1 bomb explosion in the nearby town of Gori that killed three people. At a February 9 news briefing, FBI specialists announced that they support Georgian investigators’ preliminary findings that Zhvania died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Results from the government’s forensic tests are expected sometime next week.

But Saakashvili’s statement has done little to dissuade Gamkrelidze. “His [President Saakashvili’s] reply proves my point,” he told EurasiaNet. “Why is he not interested? Any normal person would say ‘Of course, create the commission.’”

Zurab Zhvania and Raul Usupov, the deputy governor of Kvemo Kartli region, were found dead on February 3 in a downtown Tbilisi apartment. Interior Ministry officials have stated that a leak from an improperly installed gas heater caused both men to die from carbon monoxide asphyxiation.

Independent medical expert Maia Nikoleishvili, an opposition loyalist, has been one of the more outspoken critics of the official explanation for Zhvania’s death, arguing that inadequate tests were performed to justify the preliminary conclusion of carbon monoxide poisoning. In an interview with EurasiaNet, Nikoleishvili said that she had received a threat from an anonymous phone caller on February 7 about her statements, first broadcast on the television station Mze the day of Zhvania’s death. Nikoleishvili said that human rights activist Nana Kakabadze, who first proposed formation of an independent commission to investigate Zhvania’s death, and she had both expressed concerns for their safety at an unrelated February 10 meeting with representatives of the US embassy in Tbilisi. The embassy could not be reached for comment.

Adding to the confusion has been a statement by city gas company Tbilgazi that the gas flow to the apartment building at 53a Saburtalo Street where the bodies of Zhvania and Usupov were found was switched off the night of their deaths. The two men are believed to have died sometime between 4am and 4:30am on February 3. [For Background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In a February 10 interview with EurasiaNet, Tbilgazi spokesperson Ekaterina Sariya reiterated the earlier report, stating that gas had been cut to the residence between 2:55 am and 10 am on February 3. A phone call from “a concerned citizen” reporting that gas pressure in the building had unexpectedly risen prompted the company to send a mechanic to investigate, she said. Although pressure levels were not dangerously high, Sariya added, Tbilgazi decided to switch off the gas flow to 53a Saburtalo Street and all surrounding buildings as a precautionary measure.

Already, the controversy surrounding Zhvania’s death promises to fuel more political battles to come. Gamkrelidze has stated that the 17 parliamentarians who represent the New Rights-Industrialists will oppose the nomination of Finance Minister Zurab Noghaideli for the post of prime minister. In his remarks on February 10, the opposition leader went on to term Saakashvili’s state of the nation address “an unsuccessful attempt to imitate the US president.” Saakashvili, in turn, characterized Gamkrelidze and his party as “the remnants of Shevardnadze’s government.”

The opposition, however, has not been alone in voicing its concerns. On February 8, in an interview with the television station Imedi, Elene Tevdoradze, a majoritarian member of parliament and friend of Zhvania, also admitted to having questions about the circumstances surrounding the prime minister’s death. Tevdoradze has since denied all media requests for further elaboration.

In the media’s hunt for answers, though, some facts have taken on a life of their own. On February 9, the daily newspaper Rezonansi reported that a copy of medical expert Maia Nikoleishvili’s February 3 Mze interview had disappeared from the station and that the company was being threatened with closure. Mze news service head Inga Dadiani, however, has denied the report. “Tbilisi is a small town and rumors are common,” Dadiani said. “We are working normally and nothing has disappeared.”

Editor’s Note: Molly Corso is a freelance photographer and journalist in Tbilisi.