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Georgia PM Zurab Zhvania dies in apparent gas leak

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  • Georgia PM Zurab Zhvania dies in apparent gas leak

    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.


    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6904639/
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