The official version of Georgia’s former Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania's death in 2005 was CO poisoning from a faulty gas heater. His family says it was a planned assassination, the claim recently echoed by Georgia's former Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili. Do you think these accusations could be grounded?

Margo       October 9, 2007, 14:18

@Sevodnya, if you read the news carefully, you may find out that Mr. Okruashvili - before being let out on bail - was somehow forced to make a statement that completely contraddicted his former allegations. His relatives and friends who saw him giving this new statement on the TV said he looked and talked as if something terrible was done to him and that that wasn't the way he used to speak, he looked as if he was drugged or beaten up, or something like that. Besides, his lawyer was never given the opportunity to assist his client during the interrogations and there are strong suspicions that Okruashvili was forced into changing his former statement. This doesn't sound particularly democratic or "on the right way" to me.

Now, all this story with Okruashvili could be true or not, but I tend to believe it was true. The way Saakashvili came to power, the country he is supported by(US), the fact that none of his promises to the electorate were really kept and the fact that a lot of people in Georgia are disillusioned and fed up with him makes me think that Georgia has never been so far from democracy as in these days.

For what regards Russia and "democracy" in the Yeltsin era, I am sorry to say that - on my personal opinion and experience - you don't really understand what you are talking about. If there was any "freedom" in those years, it was only for a bunch of unscrupulous people who became very rich, stealing from the country and making dodgy deals with the complicity of the government.

Sevodnya_Net       October 8, 2007, 17:55

It might be worth adding, in the light of the latest news, that the last thing Mr Zhvania's family needs is a statement from the now discredited Okruashvili on their behalf
:-)

Sevodnya_Net       October 8, 2007, 17:25

Russia is democratic to an extent, but there is no history or tradition of true democracy there. It lost a lot of its fledgling democracy in the years preceding Putin, as discussed elsewhere on the site. Georgia has a violent and bloody history and has huge problems with ethnic divisions, especially for such a small country. These divisions, sad to say, are exacerbated by mischief-making from its neighbour. Russia shows a few double standards in this respect, as it dislikes other countries interfering in its own "internal" ethnic conflicts.

Given this background it would be amazing if Georgia currently shaped up as a paragon of political perfection, but it is, I believe, on the right road.

As for the allegations against about Mr Zhvania, who knows? Political killings are not unknown in Georgia, although of course it wasn't only Mr Zhvania who died in the "accident".

Margo       October 8, 2007, 15:10

Igor, unfortunately the facts tell otherwise.

Igor       October 7, 2007, 19:24

Georgia is a democracy but Russia is not. [part of the post has been removed]

Al       October 6, 2007, 03:59

Considering the political climate in Georgia it is very much a possibility and should be looked into. In a just and civilized manner.