tbilisi_city_court

Tbilisi City Court. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–One of the experts who was involved in the autopsy following the death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania in 2005 was found dead in his apartment on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Tbilisi City Court finished the hearing for another expert and listened to testimonies from several witnesses.

Thursday at noon, the journal Liberali reported that Mamuka Chkhaidze had been found in at his apartment. The Interior Ministry responded that no investigation has been launched cause the man died from natural causes and the family didn’t have any complaints. Chkhaidze was questioned a few times by the Prosecutor’s Office about the death of Zhvania.

Another expert, Levan Chachua, who is in detention, was questioned in the court two days ago with the family members of Raul Usupov, who was discovered dead with Zhvania in 2005. Also villagers from Usupov’s home village were heard by the court. This included mullahs who performed bathing ritual according to Muslim rules for the body of Usupov.

Iasha Usupov, the father of Raul Usupov, excludes that the death was an accident and says his son and Zhvania were killed. He said the mullahs who performed the bath ritual noticed two prickles on Usupov’s body possibly from a needle.

“This means that he was poisoned through those prickles,” he said.

The prosecutor then underlined that Usupov’s bodily injuries were clear and expert Levan Chachua shouldn’t have missed them. But Chachua’s lawyer insisted that the witnesses are saying what they have been instructed to say.

“However I don’t know who needs this and why,” Levan Tabidze added.

During questioning, Usupov’s father was asked what makes him think that his son was killed. He said Raul was very tidy and he would never go to the prime minister with a dirty shirt, but his shirt had mud on it. There are also other reasons to think so, he said.

Chachua then asked to inspect the shirt which Usupov was wearing, because this could be very important evidence in the case, but the prosecutor resisted, saying that Chachua’s case is separate and has no relation with this shirt. The judge didn’t allow the shirt to be admitted as evidence, supporting the Prosecutor’s Office.

Chachua was detained eight months ago and is on trial for negligence.