Zurab Zhvania

Zhvania died early in the morning of 3 February 2005 from what officials claimed was carbon monoxide poisoning, due to an inadequately ventilated gas heater. He was in a rented apartment with Raul Usupov, deputy governor of Georgia's Kvemo Kartli region, at the time. Usupov also died.

Guards entered the house after there was no word from Zhvania for several hours to find him in an armchair and Usupov in the kitchen. Details of the incident are still limited, although officials have said there was a gas-powered heating stove in the main room of the house, where a table was set up with a backgammon set lying open upon it.

Immediately after the incident, live on Rustavi-2 television, Georgia's Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said there was no reason to suspect foul play.[2] Bodies were taken to the coroner's office, where a preliminary examination showed both died from carbon monoxide poisoning. There were reports of serious technical violations when the gas heaters were installed, with officials saying there was no ventilation in the apartment.

However, Zhvania's family members have questioned the official version of the death, with Goga Zhvania having said that he was sure that his brother was assassinated.[3] In March 2006 interview with the Washington Post Georgia's ex-president Eduard Shevardnadze also said that he believed Zhvania was murdered.[4][5]

In addition, Irakli Okruashvili has also stated in his scandalous speech in Imedi TV, that Zhvania's corpse was moved to the house, but who actually moved the corpse he said he was not going to talk about that any longer that day.[6]

According to some reports Mikheil Machavariani, Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, was one of the last people who spoke with Zurab Zhvania the night before his death.[7][8]

President Mikheil Saakashvili, at an emergency Cabinet meeting, said, "In Zurab Zhvania, Georgia has lost a great patriot, who devoted his entire life to serving the motherland. Zurab's death is a great blow to Georgia and to me personally. I lost a very close friend, a reliable adviser and a great ally. I want to call on you all to be strong, because there is no greater responsibility than loyal service to our country and our people." Rabbi Mikhailashvili stated, "The Jewish community mourns the sudden loss of Zurab Zhvania. As a Jew, he had a close relationship to the Jewish community in Georgia."[1] As of March 2014 Mikheil Saakashvili was wanted by the Georgian Prosecutor's office for questioning in an investigation carried out for the purpose of establishing circumstances surrounding Zhvania's death.[9][10][11][12][13]

Years after the incident, Zhvania's death remains at the center of Georgia's political life. In 2015, several of Zhvania's bodyguards were convicted of neglect after they admitted that on the day of Zhvania's death they had left him alone, at his own request. According to the bodyguards, Zhvania maintained a secret apartment and went to unspecified meetings there, sometimes disguised in a beard. When the security personnel entered the apartment to check on Zhvania, they found his body naked along with the naked Raul Usupov. The bodyguards admitted to tampering with the scene in order to erase any traces that the two men have had sex, so as to "keep his [Zhvania’s] name clean".[14][15] Zhvania's family members deny allegations of homosexuality and instead insist that it was a staged murder by unspecified persons. When asked about homosexuals, Zhvania's brother Gogla stated that he finds homosexuals disgusting and that if Zhvania was one of them, it would be a disgrace to his family, though Gogla maintained that it was not the case.[16]