Russian-Based Georgian Tycoon Shot Dead

Mamuka Jincharadze, ethnic Georgia who was a member of the Russia?s Nizhnevortovsk City Council and an influential businessman, was shot dead in Moscow late on February 5, Russian news agencies reported. No motives behind the murder are reported so far.

Georgian media reported that Mamuka Jincharadze, 38, had a periodic relations with the Georgian authorities and was involved in charity activities in Georgia, particularly he contributed to construction of a Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi and purchase of a land for the Georgian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem in 2003.

But for the first time Jincharadze?s name became in the focus of public attention last March, when the Georgian Security Ministry arrested Jincharadze for an alleged link to a damage of a helicopter, which was owned by the Security Ministry. Jincharadze claimed that he rented the helicopters. He was released after agreed to compensate damage.