11:04, 23 December 2018

MPs to amend the law to investigate Zviad Gamsakhurdia's murder

The amendments aimed to increase the term for investigating crimes will be adopted under the accelerated procedure; this will allow to finish the inquiry into the murder of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the first president of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Speaker of the Parliament, has promised today. The sons of Gamsakhurdia refused to stop their hunger strike after this statement.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 14, Konstantin and Tsotne Gamsakhurdia went on a hunger strike, demanding to investigate their father's murder, since December 31 is an expiry of the 25-year limitation period.

The first president of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdiya, died in December 1993 in a village in the Samegrelo Region in Western Georgia, where he, along with several of his supporters, was hiding from the authorities. In 2010, an interim commission set up to investigate the circumstances of his death rejected the original version of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) that Zviad Gamsakhurdiya committed suicide.

On December 21, Salome Zurabishvili, the Georgian President, supported the demand to extend the investigation period into the murder of the country's first president.

Today, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Speaker, has reacted to Salome Zurabishvili's appeal to the Parliament to consider "as fast as possible" the position of Zviad Gamsakhurdia's sons.

"As you know, on December 31, the limitation period expires of the inquiry into the death of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the former president. We took into account the request of his family on this issue. We made a decision and brought a bill into parliament, which provides for an increase in the statute of limitations. The parliament will pass the law by the end of the next week in an expedited manner," the Speaker Kobakhidze said on air of the Public Television of Georgia; his words were translated by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Despite these statements, Gamsakhurdia's sons are not going to stop their hunger strike, demanding to take concrete steps in their father's murder case. "It's not enough. We have to change our attitude to this case; the inquiry should run under public and government's control," Konstantin Gamsakhurdia said on air of the "Rustavi-2" TV Company.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 22, 2018 at 10:42 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Galina Gotua

Source: CK correspondent