The "Party of Peace" takes another hit

Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who helped lead the revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, died early Thursday from what officials said apparently was a gas leak from a heater.

Georgia has a history of political intrigue that sometimes turns violent, but officials said there was no immediate indication of foul play. An autopsy was under way and the prosecutor-general's office said an investigation had been opened.

Zhvania's actions as prime minister have included trying to negotiate deals with separatist regions and cracking down on corruption and crime. The 41-year-old prime minister was visiting the Tbilisi apartment of his friend Zurab Usupov, deputy governor of the Kvemo-Kartli region, who also died, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on Rustavi-2 television.

Security guards broke through a window when they heard no sign of life from inside several hours after the prime minister arrived, Merabishvili said. Zhvania had entered the apartment at about midnight (2000GMT) Wednesday, and the guards came in between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. (0000 and 0030GMT).

"It is an accident," Merabishvili said. "We can say that poisoning by gas took place."

A gas-fired heating stove was in the main room of the mezzanine-floor apartment, where a table was set up with a backgammon set lying open upon it. Zhvania was in a chair; Usupov's body was found in the kitchen.

[...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram of condolence to Saakashvili, which said that Zhvania "was well known in Russia as a supporter of the development of friendly, good-neighborly relations between the Russian and Georgian peoples."

A minister in South Ossetia's separatist government, Boris Chochiyev, expressed shock. Zhvania was "among the Georgian politicians who favored a peaceful settlement of the conflict. I can say that he represented the party of peace," Chochiyev told The Associated Press.-AP
  The Star Online article

1. Negotiating with separatists and cracking down on corruption and crime are, in fact, immediate reasons to suspect foul play.

2. The prime minister of a volatile region where an uprising had just ousted a corrupt regime, and in a region of "terrorist" and separatist guerilla activity, and where the U.S. and Russia are scrabbling for pipeline rights, went into a house at midnight, and the guards did not concern themselves with his well-being until four hours later?

3. Neither the prime minister nor his host had gone to bed, but were just sitting around slowly getting gassed? Possible, of course. But somewhat suspect given the rest of the story.

4. Anyone representing "the party of peace" is a giant bull's eye for the "party of war".