Abkhaz opposition leader hospitalised, in critical condition
The reason behind Aslan Bzhania’s sudden deterioration in health is unclear. Rumors of poisoning and pneumonia are circulating.
The leader of the Abkhazian opposition, Aslan Bzhania, who is considered one of the favorites of the upcoming presidential elections in July 2019, was urgently hospitalized last night in a serious condition in a Moscow clinic.
“Unfortunately, we cannot provide reliable information about the diagnosis, because we do not have a sufficiently confirmed medical report,” said the Council of the National Movement for the Protection of Statehood, which includes leaders of all opposition organizations in Abkhazia, after an emergency meeting on 19 April.
The deterioration of Bzhania’s health was unexpected and dramatic. Anonymous social media users have put forward theories of pneumonia and poisoning. However, no official source has yet given an accurate account of what is ailing Bzhania.
• Op-ed: why no new Abkhaz president will be able to change anything for the better
• Yet it was a coup in Abkhazia in 2014?
Aslan Bzhania intends to run in the presidential elections scheduled for 21 July 2019.
In the previous elections in 2014, he won 32 per cent of the vote and finished second behind Raul Khajimba, the current president of Abkhazia.
