President Offers Condolences to Nika Rurua's Family

President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili has offered his condolences to the family of politician, ex-minister and author Nika Rurua, who was found dead in his flat on Tuesday.

The President went to Rurua's house on Tuesday evening, and there noted that Rurua was a strong man, a distinguished minister of culture and his friend.

“Nika Rurua was a very interesting person at all stages of his life…He was my friend and a very strong person. He was distinguished among the ministers of culture,” Margvelashvili said.

Rurua’s relatives, friends and leaders of various political parties are paying their respects at his home on Zandukeli Street, where he died of a heart condition.

Nika Rurua served as Minister of Culture and Monument Protection from 2009-2012, during his time doing much to add to or promote Georgia's rich cultural heritage.

More recently, he was seen in the public eye as a member of the opposition party UNM, first as a candidate for the Sololaki/Mtatsminda district, a position he lost to now-President-Elect Salome Zurabishvili, and this year as a backer of Zurabishvili's contender, Grigol Vashadze.

By Thea Morrison

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