Tbilisi, Georgia, Jan.23
By Nana Kirtzkhalia - Trend:
Georgian Interior Minister Alexander Chikaidze submitted a resignation letter on Jan.23.
The minister said he made this decision because he was accused of covering up the officials involved in the death of Zurab Vazagashvili.
"All the statements saying that I patronized the police officers who were involved in the death of Zurab Vazagashvili on May 2, 2006 and who were allegedly impeded the investigation, are untrue," he said.
"But I feel responsibility for the death of Zurab's father - Yuri Vazagashvili - who was blown up in front of his son's grave and I resign," he added.
Chikaidze said that if the case of the Yuri Vazagashvili's death was disclosed by "hot pursuit", he would stay on his post.
"But this didn't happen. I was on a business trip in Spain and now I made this decision," the minister said.
Yuri Vazagashvili was blown up on his son's grave in Georgia's Kaspi district on Jan.20. He was killed as a result of the explosion of a mine that was laid in a pitcher with flowers, according to the preliminary data.
Vazagashvili demanded to punish the police officers who killed his son, since he thought that the police overstepped its authority and shot his unarmed son.
He created a non-governmental organization and intended to organize mass protest actions, since he believed that the authorities are in no hurry to restore justice.