Former officials state first president was killed through second’s order
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Tuesday, July 21
According to Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, son of the first President of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, his father was murdered.
Gamsakurdia was the first president who was democratically elected in the post-Soviet era, on April 14, 1991. He is the only Georgian President to have died whilst formally in office, on December 31, 1993. The reason for death was identified as a suicide.
A full 22 years after his death, Konstantine Gamsakhurdia is demanding an investigation into his father’s death.
“The Parliament Commission has received interesting facts from Former Security Minister Igor Giorgadze, Former Minister of Defense Tengiz Kitovani and Former Prime Minister Tengiz Sigua. According to their testimony, money from Georgia’s budget was allocated for finding and killing my father,” stated Gamsakhurdia.
Kitovani said that none of the ex-president's killers are alive. He named the second President of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze, as the man who had ordered the assassination.
“Money for Gamsakhurdia's death was allocated by the people who had personal interests in his demise. Those individuals are Shevardnadze, leader of the paramilitary Mkhedrioni (the Mkhedrioni was a paramilitary group and political organization in the Republic of Georgia, outlawed since 1995 but subsequently reconstituted as the Union of Patriots political party) organization Jaba Ioseliani, Georgian security and police official and lieutenant-general of the state security service Shota Kviraia. Gamsakhurdia was killed with two shots, one in his neck and another in his temple. How that could be suicide?” stated Kitovani.
He said that former Vice Prime Minister Avtandil Margiani was not the actual acting figure in the case.
“Gamsakurdia was sold by the people with whom he lived in the Samegrelo region,” stated Kitovani.
Giorgadze explained the reason why Shevardnadze needed to get rid of Gamsakhurdia.
“Shevarnadze came in to power with a military coup. He was not officially in office while Gamsakhurdia was alive. A governmental commission created in 1994 came to the conclusion that Gamsakhurdia committed suicide. I was one who never signed the document. Later when we found Gamsakhurdia's grave in the Jikhashkari village, I suggest to Shevardnadze that he should start an investigation, but he refused,” said Giorgadze.
He said that Shevarnadze’s answer confirmed his suspicion that the First President of Georgia was murdered.
Both Kitovani and Giorgadze expressed readiness to cooperate with the Prosecutor’s Office, but
Georgia’s second President Eduard Shevardnadze died in 2014.
