Gas Leak Kills Georgian Leader

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 there was no immediate indication of foul play, officials said. 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 Wednesday, and the guards came in between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.

"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.

Zhvania was a key ally of President Mikhail Saakashvili in leading the November 2003 protests against election fraud that came to be known as the "Rose Revolution." The demonstrations drove Shevardnadze into resignation.

Named premier after Saakashvili was elected president in January 2004, Zhvania was considered a moderate influence in the government, and he was one of the key figures trying to negotiate settlements with Georgia's separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.

His government also was working to overcome Georgia's endemic corruption, which had enriched some Shevardnadze-era officials while the country's economy deteriorated.

Levan Chichua, a top official in Georgia's National Bureau of Forensic Medicine, said there were no signs of violence and that preliminary examination showed both died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Deputy Prosecutor-General Georgy Dzhanashia told journalists the heater was installed "with serious technical violations ... there was no ventilation in the apartment."

Central heating is scarce in Georgia. Many people rely on gas or wood stoves in their homes and fatal malfunctions are often reported.

Saakashvili convened an emergency Cabinet meeting, which began with a moment of silence.

"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," Saakashvili said.

Radio Imedi reported that Saakashvili named Vice-Premier David Baramidze as acting prime minister, citing government chief of staff Petre Mamradze.

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 and said he hoped Zhvania's death would not hinder negotiations on a settlement with the central government.

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.

Both separatist regions have close ties with Russia, and some Russian politicians saw Zhvania's death as foretelling a worsening of often-tense relations with Georgia.

"It does not promise anything good from the point of view of bringing the situation back to normal," Russian parliament member Konstantin Zatulin was quoted as saying by the news agency Interfax. "I do not rule out that Saakashvili may launch some shady scheme that Zhvania most likely would have opposed."

By Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili