Reaction to Initial Test Saying Patarkatsishvili’s Death Natural

With British police indicating that Badri Patarkatsishvili had died of natural causes, some opposition politicians in Georgia have placed, what they call, “the moral responsibility” of his death with the Georgian authorities.

“This is an indirect murder, rather than a direct murder,” MP Gocha Jojua, Patarkatsishvili’s political associate, said on February 14. “I have said it previously and will repeat it: Patarkatsishvili was a victim of a dirty campaign of slander” – referring to charges brought by the Georgian authorities against Patarkatsishvili for an alleged coup plot. MP Jojua also said that initial police findings indicate that death was caused “by heart problems, but what triggered that will apparently become known later.”

Local police in Surrey, Britain where Patarkatsishvili died late on February 12, said “extensive toxicology testing is yet to be carried out. This will take a number of weeks.”

MP Pikria Chikhradze of the opposition New Rights Party said, even if death were caused by heart failure, “serious political and moral reasons were behind it” – again a reference to “a campaign of slander.”

“A heart attack was quite possible in light of the dirty campaign against this person by the authorities,” Paata Jibladze of the opposition Labor Party said.

A lawmaker from the opposition Conservative Party, Kakha Kukava, however, was unimpressed by the initial findings, saying: “It would be untrue to say that I fully trust the investigation by Scotland Yard. [Scotland Yard] is not even trusted in Britain.” MP Kukava’s earlier comments on the matter were more reserved. He said on February 13: “It is very hard to speculate now [about the causes of death], when there are no official conclusions available from the police and investigators.”

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze and the Georgian government expressed sorrow and condolences to Patarkatsishvili’s family and close friends on February 14 and President Saakashvili said on February 13 in a written statement: “Regardless of the fact that Badri Patarkatsishvili was accused of a grave crime against the State, every person’s death is a great tragedy.”

Friends and political associates of Patarkatsishvili said on February 14 that Patarkatsishvili will be buried in Tbilisi.