Abkhazia to bid farewell to President Sergei Bagapsh

Abkhazia will on Thursday bid its last farewell to President Sergei Bagapsh, who died on May 29 in Moscow aged 62 after a lung surgery.

The farewell ceremony will start in the Sukhumi Philharmonic in the morning. The mourning procession will stop at places Bagapsh used to visit, including government buildings and the presidential administration.

Bagapsh will be buried in the village of Dzhgerda in the Ochamchira District where his parents were buried.

On Sunday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the farewell ceremony in Moscow.

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, the tiny Pacific island of Nauru and the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu have followed Russia’s suit. Georgia considers the two regions part of its sovereign territory.

SUKHUMI, June 2 (RIA Novosti)

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