More witnesses questioned about late PM Zhvania’s death

New details have been revealed about the 2005 death of Georgia’s late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania at today’s court hearing at Tbilisi City Court.

Three witnesses, including investigator Kakha Chumbadze, were questioned at forensic medical expert Levan Chachua’s court hearing today.

Chachua performed an autopsy on Zhvania’s body in 2005. He was arrested nine months ago and charged with negligence as it was believed he did not fully mention "obvious physical injuries” in his autopsy report.

Chumbadze headed the group of officers who started investigating the late PM’s death case back in 2005.

Today, the defendant’s side asked Chumbadze whether he had noticed a black leather bag with a wig inside it at the death scene or not. Chumbadze said he had noticed the bag but it was immediately sealed up so he never saw what was inside.

This was the first time a bag and a wig were mentioned in the death case of the late PM. However, the defendant’s side said they did not have the right to give further details about the newly mentioned objects. They added they would say more about this issue later in their final statement.

The next hearing of the same case was expected to be held on January 9.

Meanwhile, after today’s hearing prosecutor Revaz Nadoi talked about several more "violations” regarding the examination and autopsy performed by Chachua.

He said Zhvania’s body should not have been embalmed as there was a doubt he was asphyxiated.

"When there is such a doubt, experts say, a corpse should not be embalmed,” Nadoi said.

At today’s hearing, examination attendant Archil Chikadze said he performed an embalming to Zhvania’s body after expert Chachua told him to do so.

Zhvania was found dead in a rented apartment in the early morning of February 3, 2005. The body of then-Kvemo Kartli region Governor Raul Usupov was also found at the scene.

The official cause of the men’s death has not been determined but officials and experts, who examined the bodies, claimed the men died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning from an inadequately ventilated gas heater.

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

Today, the defendant’s side said those two holes were from the embalming procedure. In response to this, the plaintiff said Usupov was Muslim so his family wanted him buried on the following day, which meant the body did not need to be embalmed.

"Embalming procedure is not a part of the autopsy. It is only performed if a deceased’s family asks for it,” prosecutor Nadoi said, adding Usupov’s family did not ask for it.

The prosecutor also said at the next hearing the four-hour video showing the bodies’ examination process could be screened.

There are three separate ongoing investigations about Zhvania and Usupov’s death. One is to determine the exact cause of the men’s death; the second is to investigation why expert Chacua’s autopsy results were incomplete; and the third is to find out why Zhvania’s security guards showed negligence when they left the late PM alone during the fatal night.