Main Abkhaz opposition leader returns after poisoning attempt to head up opposition Sukhum
The main opposition leader of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania has returned home on December 17 after several months of treatment in Moscow and Berlin from severe poisoning.
Bzhania says he was poisoned so as to be prevented from participating in the presidential elections of August 2018.
Incumbent President Raul Khajimba won in the second round of the elections on September 8, which most of the opposition considers illegitimate.
With the return of Aslan Bzhania, opposition forces in Abkhazia now have a new incentive to fight, uniting around the former leader.
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Aslan Bzhaniya was supposed to be the candidate of a united opposition bloc in the presidential election in Abkhazia in August 2018, but he suddenly ended up in hospital in very serious condition with symptoms of heavy metal poisoning, in particular mercury and cadmium.
Bzhania himself and his supporters are sure that it was an attempt to poison him in order to remove from the presidential race.
Though not expressly stated, many believe that President Khajimba may have been involved in the poisoning attempt, given Bzhania was his main opponent.
• If Aslan Bzhania was poisoned, then who poisoned him and why?
• What’s more important for Abkhazia – confiscating weapons or anti-corruption laws?
The opposition in Abkhazia demands the cancellation of the results of the second round of the presidential election, given that the candidates received a very close number of votes: 47.39 percent was received by incumbent president Raul Khajimba, while 46.17 percent was received by the opposition candidate, leader of the Amtsakhara party Alkhas Kvitsinia.
The opposition, including Aslan Bzhania, claims that according to the law, this result means that in fact, nobody won the election, and the vote must be held again.
• Incumbent Abkhaz President Khajimba wins second term in surprise victory
While still in Moscow, Aslan Bzhania promised to give President Raul Khajimba a run for his money.
“If he does not agree to hold a repeat election, he will be considered a person who illegally holds power in Abkhazia.
“We will respond accordingly,” Bzhania said in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper in mid-September.
On September 20, the Supreme Court of Abkhazia dismissed the suit of the main rival of incumbent President Raul Khajimba in the last presidential election, Alkhas Kvitsinia, who demanded the annulment of the Central Election Commission’s decision to recognize Khajimba as president.
Kvitsinia, who became the candidate from the opposition in the force majeure circumstances due to Bzhania’s poisoning, has filed for appeal.
The whole set of tools will be used. Everything that Khajimba used for political purposes will be used with renewed energy by us. They will reap what they have sown,” Aslan Bzhaniya promised in a conversation with reporters.
