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Georgian Exile Died of Natural Causes: Police

Opposition billionaire had feared government was trying to kill him

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 14, 2008 10:33 AM CST

(Newser) – Tests on a billionaire Georgian opposition leader found dead yesterday in his London-area home show he died of natural causes, the Telegraph reports. Badri Patarkatsishvili, 52, said in December he had been the target of two assassination attempts, and his death surprised acquaintances, who said he was in good health, and raised suspicions of foul play. 

The former presidential candidate had said he would not return to his native Georgia because "I haven't decided to die yet." Patarkatsishvili, worth an estimated $11 billion, was a business associate and friend of Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian oligarch at the center of the Alexander Litvinenko affair. Police are understood to have tested for radioactivity at Patarkatsishvili's home, but found no evidence.

Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, right, seen with Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, left, at his home in Tbilisi, Georgia, in this July, 2005 file photo. Badri Patarkatsishvili, a Georgian opposition figure and billionaire businessman who was accused of plotting to overthrow the ex-Soviet republic's government, has died of a heart attack,...
Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, right, seen with Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, left, at his home in Tbilisi, Georgia, in this July, 2005 file photo. Badri Patarkatsishvili, a Georgian...   (Associated Press)
Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili cuts a birthday cake celebrating his 50th birthday in Tbilisi, Georgia, in this Oct. 31, 2005 file photo. Badri Patarkatsishvili, a Georgian opposition figure and billionaire businessman who was accused of plotting to overthrow the ex-Soviet republic's government, has died of a heart attack, his spokesman...
Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili cuts a birthday cake celebrating his 50th birthday in Tbilisi, Georgia, in this Oct. 31, 2005 file photo. Badri Patarkatsishvili, a Georgian opposition figure...   (Associated Press)
Police  patrol outside Downside Manor  Leatherhead England Wednesday Feb. 13, 2008  after  Georgian tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili was found dead there  late Tuesday night. Patarkatsishvili   who claimed he was the target of assassination plot after helping lead mass anti-government protests in his homeland has been found dead in his mansion outside...
Police patrol outside Downside Manor Leatherhead England Wednesday Feb. 13, 2008 after Georgian tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili was found dead there late Tuesday night. Patarkatsishvili who claimed...   (Associated Press)
An unidentified person hides their face riding in a mortuary van carrying the remains of  Badri Patarkatsishvili from Downside Manor, Leatherhead,  England, to a nearby hospital for further tests on the late Georgian billionaire and former Georgian Presidential candidate , who was found dead in his home earlier Wednesday Feb. 13,...
An unidentified person hides their face riding in a mortuary van carrying the remains of Badri Patarkatsishvili from Downside Manor, Leatherhead, England, to a nearby hospital for further tests on the...   (Associated Press)
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