New details revealed about late PM Zhvania’s death

Muslim religious officials (Mullahs) from the native village of the late Deputy Governor of Georgia’s Kvemo Kartli region Raul Usupov, who was found dead alongside late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania in 2005, have revealed new details about the men’s death at today’s trial.

The mullahs who, following Muslim tradition, washed Usupov’s body before the burial said today they noticed two small red holes on the dead man’s nipples and a liquid was oozing from them.

"I thought these holes were from a drip chamber and medical experts did this when they tried to help,” said one of the mullahs at the court sitting. Zhvania’s body was not examined by the mullahs.

In Tbilisi City Court today, expert Levan Chachua, who faced charges of negligence, was questioned for his role in investigating the case.

Usupov’s father Iashar Usupov was also questioned today and claimed his son had been murdered.

In an informal setting, the father asked Chachua why he did not mention the two wounds found on his son’s body in his autopsy report.

In the report, Chachua said Zhvania and Usupov died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a poorly ventilated gas heater. However Usupov’s father said today he believed poison was inserted into his son’s body through the two holes in his body. He claimed this was not an accident and his son had been murdered.

In response to this, Chachua stood by the fact he wrote in his report that Usupov died from carbon monoxide poisoning however he agreed this did not rule out other possible causes of death.

"Carbon monoxide poisoning can be an accident, suicide and murder as well. These questions should be answered by the Prosecutor’s Office. What I wrote in my report was only the cause of death,” he said.

The bodies of Zhvania and Usupov were found in a rented apartment in the early morning of February 3, 2005.

Although the official death reason was carbon monoxide poisoning, the investigation into their controversial deaths was ongoing. The Chief Prosecutor’s Office planned to exhume the bodies to do more examinations and find out the truth.