Authorities in Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia say a former interior minister has killed himself after being accused of masterminding an assassination attempt on the region's leader.
The region's Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement that Almasbei Kchach shot himself on April 17 after security officers tried to detain him at his apartment in the separatist capital, Sukhumi.
The office said Kchach masterminded a blast and a shooting that nearly killed Abkhaz President Aleksandr Ankvab in February and took the lives of two bodyguards.
Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in a war in the early 1990s.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and another separatist region, South Ossetia, as independent states after its brief war with Georgia in August 2008.
The region's Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement that Almasbei Kchach shot himself on April 17 after security officers tried to detain him at his apartment in the separatist capital, Sukhumi.
The office said Kchach masterminded a blast and a shooting that nearly killed Abkhaz President Aleksandr Ankvab in February and took the lives of two bodyguards.
Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in a war in the early 1990s.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and another separatist region, South Ossetia, as independent states after its brief war with Georgia in August 2008.