Burjanadze Downplays Proposal to Set up Commission to Probe into Zhvania’s Death

Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said on February 10 that she does not deem it necessary to set a special parliamentary investigative commission to probe into the official version of the circumstances behind late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania’s death, as was demanded by the New Rights-Industrialist opposition coalition at the parliamentary session on Thursday.

“There is no reason yet to doubt the information provided by the investigation. If there will be some [questions] after the investigation is over, be sure that we will take appropriate measures,” Nino Burjanadze said.

While addressing the parliamentary session on February 10, MP David Gamkrelidze, leader of the New Rights-Industrialists parliamentary faction, urged the Parliament to set up a special commission which would investigate the death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania.
 
“The society wonders whether it [Zhvania’s death] was a tragic accident or a murder. The hasty statements of Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili and Prosecutor General Zurab Adeishvili [who immediately ruled out foul play and described the death as a tragic accident shortly after Zhvania’s dead body was found] have significantly contributed to such uncertainty,” Davit Gamkrelidze said at the Parliament’s session on February 10.

He said that those politicians who were regarded as Zurab Zhvania’s closest allies should be involved in the work of the investigative commission.

Officials say that Zurab Zhvania and another official, Raul Usupov, died of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a faulty gas heating devise, which was installed in the apartment where the dead bodies of the two men were found.

Parliamentarian Elene Tevdoradze, a politician regarded as a close allies of late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, said in an interview with Imedi television on February 8 that she has a number of questions regarding the officially reported circumstances behind Zurab Zhvania’s death.

“We, those people who were close friends of Zurab Zhvania, are very often asking each other these questions in an attempt to find answers, but there are no answers yet,” MP Elene Tevdoradze said. She refrained, however, from specifying these doubts in any detail.