And he was one of the leaders of the "Velvet revolution" in Georgia. ![Frown](https://apolyton.net/core/images/smilies/frown.gif)
"TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who helped lead the revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, was killed Thursday by an apparent natural gas leak, the ex-Soviet republic's interior minister said.
Zhvania, 41, was at a friend's apartment when the leak occurred, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said in a live television broadcast.
``It is an accident,'' Merabishvili said. ``We can say that poisoning by gas took place.''
Security guards broke through a window early Thursday when they heard no signs of life inside the apartment several hours after the prime minister arrived, Merabishvili said. Zhvania's host, Zurab Usupov, deputy governor of Georgia's Kvemo-Kartli region, also died.
An Iranian-made gas-powered heating stove was in the main room of the mezzanine-floor apartment, where a table was set up with a backgammon set lying open. Zhvania was in a chair; Usupov's body was found in the kitchen. Security guards tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the prime minister, Merabishvili said."
![Frown](https://apolyton.net/core/images/smilies/frown.gif)
"TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who helped lead the revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, was killed Thursday by an apparent natural gas leak, the ex-Soviet republic's interior minister said.
Zhvania, 41, was at a friend's apartment when the leak occurred, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said in a live television broadcast.
``It is an accident,'' Merabishvili said. ``We can say that poisoning by gas took place.''
Security guards broke through a window early Thursday when they heard no signs of life inside the apartment several hours after the prime minister arrived, Merabishvili said. Zhvania's host, Zurab Usupov, deputy governor of Georgia's Kvemo-Kartli region, also died.
An Iranian-made gas-powered heating stove was in the main room of the mezzanine-floor apartment, where a table was set up with a backgammon set lying open. Zhvania was in a chair; Usupov's body was found in the kitchen. Security guards tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the prime minister, Merabishvili said."
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