On 5 March a session of the governmental commission for the reburial of Zviad Gamsakhurdia's body in Georgia was held in the State Chancellery in Tbilisi. The commission is chaired by Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli and includes Finance Minister Aleksi Aleksishvili, Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili, Education Minister Aleksandre Lomaia, Interior Minister Ivane Merabishvili, Justice Minister Gia Kavtaradze, Health Minister Vladimer Chipashvili, Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava, Archbishop Theodore (Chuadze), Eka Kherkheulidze, the chair of the commission on education, culture and sports of the Supreme Council of the Ajaria Autonomous Republic, as well as Zviad Gamsakhurdia's family members.
The late president's son, Giorgi Gamsakhurdia, provided commission members with information pertaining to the remains of the country's first president, which have been taken from Groznyy, Chechnya to Rostov (in Southern Russia) for a post-mortem examination and DNA test. The procedure is expected to take about 21 days.
Noghaideli charged Justice Minister Gia Kavtaradze with overseeing the process. He added that the location of the new gravesite of the first president of Georgia would have to be agreed with the Patriarchate, as well as with the members of Zviad Gamsakhurdia's family and the government of Georgia.
Press Office of the Government of Georgia