Does this smell like a conspiracy to any one else, I doubt anyone else cares one way or the other. I hope you guys all have working Carbon Monoxide detectors in your houses. They need to be replaced every two years, you know, and can't put them behind stuff.
Thursday, Feb 3, 2005
Gas leak kills Georgian PM
In a photo taken last August, Georgian Prime MinisterZurab Zhvania speaks in his study in Tbilisi.
In a photo taken last August, Georgian Prime MinisterZurab Zhvania speaks in his study in Tbilisi.
Associated Press
Tbilsi, Georgia — Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who helped lead the revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, was killed Thursday by what officials said apparently was gas from a heater.
Georgia has a history of political intrigue that sometimes turns violent, but there was no immediate indication of foul play in the death. An autopsy was under way and the prosecutor-general's office said an investigation had been opened.
Mr. Zhvania, 41, was visiting the Tbilisi apartment of his friend Zurab Usupov, deputy governor of the Kvemo-Kartli region, who also died, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on Rustavi-2 television.
Security guards broke through a window when they heard no sign of life inside the apartment several hours after the prime minister arrived, Mr. Merabishvili said. The PM had entered the site at about midnight and the guards came in about four hours later.
"It is an accident," Mr. Merabishvili said. "We can say that poisoning by gas took place."
A gas-fired heating stove was in the main room of the mezzanine-floor apartment, where a table was set up with a backgammon set lying open upon it. Mr. Zhvania was in a chair, Mr. Usupov's body was found in the kitchen.
Levan Chichua, a top official in Georgia's National Bureau of Forensic Medicine, said there were no signs of violence and that preliminary examination showed both died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Deputy Prosecutor-General Georgy Dzhanashia told journalists the heater was installed "with serious technical violations ... there was no ventilation in the apartment."
Central heating is scarce in Georgia. Many people rely on gas or wood stoves in their homes and fatal malfunctions are often reported.
President Mikhail Saakashvili convened an emergency cabinet meeting, which began with a moment of silence.
"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," Mr. Saakashvili said.
Mr. Zhvania was a key ally of Mr. Saakashvili's in leading the November 2003 protests against election fraud. The demonstrations, which became known as the Rose Revolution, drove Mr. Shevardnadze into resignation.
Radio Imedi reported that Mr. Saakashvili had named Vice-Premier David Baramidze as acting prime minister, citing government chief of staff Petre Mamradze.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram of condolence to Mr. Saakashvili, which said that Mr. Zhvania "was well known in Russia as a supporter of the development of friendly, good-neighbourly relations between the Russian and Georgian peoples."
Mr. Zhvania was considered a moderate counterbalance to the more impetuous president, and he was one of the key government figures trying to negotiate settlements with Georgia's separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.
A minister in South Ossetia's separatist government, Boris Chochiyev, expressed shock and said he hoped the death would not hinder negotiations on a settlement with the central government.
Georgia has a history of political intrigue that sometimes turns violent, but there was no immediate indication of foul play in the death. An autopsy was under way and the prosecutor-general's office said an investigation had been opened.
Mr. Zhvania, 41, was visiting the Tbilisi apartment of his friend Zurab Usupov, deputy governor of the Kvemo-Kartli region, who also died, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on Rustavi-2 television.
Security guards broke through a window when they heard no sign of life inside the apartment several hours after the prime minister arrived, Mr. Merabishvili said. The PM had entered the site at about midnight and the guards came in about four hours later.
"It is an accident," Mr. Merabishvili said. "We can say that poisoning by gas took place."
A gas-fired heating stove was in the main room of the mezzanine-floor apartment, where a table was set up with a backgammon set lying open upon it. Mr. Zhvania was in a chair, Mr. Usupov's body was found in the kitchen.
Levan Chichua, a top official in Georgia's National Bureau of Forensic Medicine, said there were no signs of violence and that preliminary examination showed both died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Deputy Prosecutor-General Georgy Dzhanashia told journalists the heater was installed "with serious technical violations ... there was no ventilation in the apartment."
Central heating is scarce in Georgia. Many people rely on gas or wood stoves in their homes and fatal malfunctions are often reported.
President Mikhail Saakashvili convened an emergency cabinet meeting, which began with a moment of silence.
"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," Mr. Saakashvili said.
Mr. Zhvania was a key ally of Mr. Saakashvili's in leading the November 2003 protests against election fraud. The demonstrations, which became known as the Rose Revolution, drove Mr. Shevardnadze into resignation.
Radio Imedi reported that Mr. Saakashvili had named Vice-Premier David Baramidze as acting prime minister, citing government chief of staff Petre Mamradze.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram of condolence to Mr. Saakashvili, which said that Mr. Zhvania "was well known in Russia as a supporter of the development of friendly, good-neighbourly relations between the Russian and Georgian peoples."
Mr. Zhvania was considered a moderate counterbalance to the more impetuous president, and he was one of the key government figures trying to negotiate settlements with Georgia's separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.
A minister in South Ossetia's separatist government, Boris Chochiyev, expressed shock and said he hoped the death would not hinder negotiations on a settlement with the central government.
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