TBILISI, March 28 (RIA Novosti) - A coffin containing the remains of Georgia's first president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, has been put on view in the Gamsakhurdia family home in the center of Tbilisi, Georgia's capital.
A coffin with the remains of Georgia's 1991-92 President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who died under mysterious circumstances 14 years ago, was discovered in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya March 3.
Mamuka Akhvlediania, the deputy mayor of Tbilisi said Tuesday a preliminary examination has determined that remains discovered earlier this month really do belong to Gamsakhurdia.
"According to preliminary results, these are indeed the remains of the first [Georgian] president. We received the information from his younger son, Tsotne Gamsakhurdia, who is in Rostov," he said.
The government reburial commission said that after formalizing all the required documents at the Verkhny Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border, a mourning cortege consisting of 50 cars entered the Georgian capital Wednesday morning.
The commission said the coffin could later be moved to the St. Trinity Cathedral for a funeral service.
On March 31, the remains will be buried, but it is not yet known where exactly.
A persecuted human rights advocate in Soviet times, Gamsakhurdia died under mysterious circumstances in 1993 at the age of 54, two years after being ousted and replaced by Eduard Shevardnadze following a civil war.
It has still not been established whether he was assassinated or committed suicide.
A law enforcement official said earlier this month that an examination of the remains revealed two holes in the skull, which might have been left by bullets.
Tsotne Gamsakhurdia said he was sure the remains belonged to his father.
"I have no doubt that it is him. There was a cross, the Georgian soil, shoes and a watch in the coffin that we had put in ourselves," he said.
For more than a year after his death, Gamsakhurdia's body was missing. It was recovered in February 1994 and reburied in Grozny, the Chechen capital, at his widow's request.
After Mikheil Saakashvili became Georgian president in 2003, he rehabilitated Gamsakhurdia and released his supporters, imprisoned during Shevardnadze's rule.
Gamsakhurdia's family has requested that the remains be moved to Rostov in southern Russia for DNA tests, following which the ex-president will be reburied in Georgia.
A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Russia helped Georgia rebury Gamsakhurdia's remains solely out of humanitarian considerations.
"Considering the issue exclusively from the humanitarian point of view, the Russian side took measures to specify a burial place for the ex-president," Mikhail Kamynin said.
The Russian diplomat said Tsotne Gamsakhurdia's trip to Grozny was organized by Russia. After an identification conducted by Russia's Defense Ministry, in line with Russian law, it was proved that the remains are Gamsakhurdia's.
Kamynin said the Verkhny Lars checkpoint, which does not operate now, was opened for a one-time crossing of the Gamsakhurdia motorcade.
Russia suspended all flights to and from Georgia in October following Tbilisi's brief arrest of four Russian army officers on spying charges.
Russian officials claimed the decision was based on the outstanding debt owed by Georgian airlines to Russia, while Georgia insisted the move was political.
Russia has restored postal links with Georgia, also suspended last year, and returned its ambassador and diplomatic staff to Tbilisi following what was the worst spat between the former Soviet allies since the Western-leaning Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in the ex-Soviet nation.
