Badri Patarkatsishvili, a billionaire and opposition leader from the nation of Georgia who had often said that his enemies were out to kill him, was found dead at his home outside London, police said Wednesday.
British police said the death of the 52-year-old Patarkatsishvili was “suspicious,” and a special-crime team was investigating. The body was taken for post-mortem and toxicology tests, but no results were expected before Thursday morning at the earliest.
Patarkatsishvili, a bitter enemy of U.S.-backed Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, collapsed at his lavish home in Surrey, a county just outside London where he had taken up residence with his wife. His body was found late Tuesday.
In Georgia, Patarkatsishvili’s allies called for an investigation, with some openly blaming the government for the death. Whatever the results of the post-mortem, the untimely collapse of Patarkatsishvili is certain to deepen already intense resentments between the government and opposition.
Patarkatsishvili, who seemed to exist in the epicenter of perpetual intrigue, had fled political backbiting and criminal charges in Georgia. He was wanted at home on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He was also wanted in Russia on accusations of arranging the 2001 failed escape from custody of a former Aeroflot airline official.
Having made a fortune in businesses in Georgia and Russia, Patarkatsishvili was an ardent supporter of the 2003 Rose Revolution, the wave of street protests that swept out a Russia-backed government and installed Saakashvili. But as relations soured between the Georgian president and many of his former allies, the billionaire drifted to the opposition.
Growing tensions erupted into violence last fall when thousands of anti-Saakashvili demonstrators filled the streets of downtown Tbilisi. The government cracked down hard on the protesters, clearing them out with truncheons and tear gas.
At the same time, the government shut down Patarkatsishvili’s popular and outspoken TV station, Imedi.
The plot thickened in December, when the government released audio and video tapes of secret meetings between Patarkatsishvili and a high-ranking Interior Ministry official. In the tapes, a voice believed to be that of Patarkatsishvili is heard offering the official millions of dollars to help him organize massive street demonstrations.
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On the basis of those transcripts, officials accused him of trying to organize a coup.