Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh who has died after a surgery at a Moscow clinic will be buried in his native village in Abkhazia, a source in the Abkhaz presidential administration said on Sunday.
Bagapsh, 62, underwent the surgery on his right lung in a Moscow hospital on May 21. After the surgery, doctors said his health condition was satisfactory. Earlier this week, Bagapsh’s lungs failed and he was put on a ventilator. Yesterday, doctors started to register complications with his other organs but were unable to help him.
Bagapsh will be buried in the village of Dzhgerda in the Ochamchira district where his parents were buried. The mourning ceremony will be held in Moscow on Monday, after which his body will be flown to Abkhazia. The funeral date will be specified, the source said.
An official spokesman for the Abkhaz president has said that Bagapsh died of cancer.
“Doctors have admitted that malignant tumors affected his lung and spread to other organs. Doctors now acknowledge that this was cancer,” Kristian Bzhania said.
Abkhazia and another Georgian breakaway republic, South Ossetia, were recognized by Russia as independent states in 2008 following a five-day war, which started when Georgia attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control.
Only Nicaragua, Venezuela and the tiny Pacific island of Nauru have followed Russia’s suit. Georgia considers the two regions part of its sovereign territory.
SUKHUMI, May 29 (RIA Novosti)