Abkhaz blogger Daur Buava, who received Georgian citizenship several years ago, has been found dead in Tbilisi. The cause of death is currently unknown. Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has opened an investigation under Article 115 of the Criminal Code (incitement to suicide).
Several sources told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Georgian Service that Buava’s body was discovered yesterday, August 27, in his Tbilisi apartment several days after his death. According to the TV Pirveli channel, citing neighbors, surveillance camera footage showed that Daur had not left his home since August 23. It is reported that neighbors contacted emergency services due to a strong odor.
«Yesterday morning, a neighbor wrote that there was an awful smell in the stairwell. There was a terrible stench, smelling like spoiled meat. We assumed a refrigerator had probably been left open and something had gone bad. We called the emergency services; they arrived and found the body inside the apartment. He was lying on the floor, severely swollen. Apparently, he had tried to call for help but couldn’t. They moved into this apartment last year; he lived with his wife, but they later separated. The last time he wrote in the neighbors’ group chat was on Saturday,» a neighbor said.
In 2022, the de facto State Security Service of Abkhazia charged Daur Buava with “high treason.” Buava had moved to Tbilisi from Tkvarcheli in 2021, remaining in the territory controlled by the official Georgian authorities.
The indictment was preceded by the publication of videos advocating for Georgian-Abkhaz friendship. The de facto Security Service ruled that the TikTok videos, in which Buava discussed the status of Abkhazia as an autonomous region within Georgia, “served the propaganda objectives of the Georgian authorities.”
Buava was granted Georgian citizenship through a simplified procedure in December 2022.