Leaders urge calm over dubious death

GEORGIAN leaders have made a plea for calm after Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania was found dead in a friend’s apartment in circumstances which prompted widespread suspicion in the former Soviet state.

A key ally of President Mikhail Saakashvili and Mr Zhvania, parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze, cut short a private visit to Italy and returned to Georgia yesterday, calling for the government not to lose momentum despite “a big loss for Georgian politics and the Georgian state.”

Mr Zhvania, 41, was found dead on Thursday at a friend’s home, apparently poisoned by carbon monoxide from a gas-fired heating stove. Initial tests showed Mr Zhvania’s blood had nearly double the fatal level of carbon monoxide.

His host also died.

Authorities said the death was accidental, but many in Georgia, plagued by a history of political intrigue, were sceptical.

“Authorities have removed Zhvania from the political scene and have cleared the way for

themselves,” said Kote Dgebuadze, a 55-year-old engineer.

Mr Zhvania was considered a moderate in the government of the Mr Saakashvili, and worked to overcome corruption.