PM Zhvania’s death: Autopsy expert found not guilty
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A medical expert has been found not guilty of negligence for his role in the case involving the death of late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania.
In Tbilisi City Court today, Judge David Mgeliashvili found Levan Chachua not guilty of negligence, where he was alleged to have not reported obvious injuries on the body of the late PM in his autopsy report.
Chachua performed an autopsy on Zhvania’s body in 2005. He was arrested nine months ago and was charged with negligence, as it was believed he did not fully mention "obvious physical injuries” in his autopsy report.
The defence claimed before the hearing there was "not a single witness or piece of evidence” that indicated Chachua was guilty.
One of Chachua’s lawyers, Giorgi Pantsulaia, expected Chachua to be found not guilty of the charges against him. If the court ruled the other way, the defence would have appealed to higher authorities, Pantsulaia said.
Former Prime Minister Zurab 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.
Zhvania was one of the main contributors to the 2003 Rose Revolution and an ally of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The official cause of the men’s death has not been determined but officials and experts who examined the bodies claimed the men died from carbon monoxide poisoning from an inadequately ventilated gas heater.
The investigation to determine whether Chacua’s autopsy results were incomplete was one of three separate ongoing investigations regarding Zhvania and Usupov’s death.
The remaining two investigations involve determining the exact cause of the men’s death and the second is to find out why Zhvania’s security guards showed negligence when they left the late PM alone on the fatal night.
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.
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 family of late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania argues forensic medical expert Levan Chachua, who performed an autopsy on Zhvania’s body in 2005, did not fully mention "obvious physical injuries” in his autopsy report.
"I cannot name the exact date but I am sure the investigation will be finished soon. As for the exhumation, the decision has not been made yet. There is only general discussion but both Georgian and foreign experts should be involved,” said Giorgi Zhvania.
A forensic expert who took part in the process of reviewing the bodies of Georgia’s late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and Deputy Governor of Kvemo Kartli region Raul Usupov has been arrested.
Two security guards tending to Georgia’s late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania have been found guilty of negligence, which led to the PM’s death in 2005.
The brother of Georgia’s late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania claims new evidence has been identified that proves the country’s former top official died because of injures rather that carbon monoxide poisoning, as it was reported under the previous government.
The Council of Europe places a commemorative star plaque in the memory of former Georgian prime minister Zurab Zhvania at its headquarters in Strasbourg, France, the Georgian parliament’s press office announced today.