Page "Raul Usupov" Paragraph 1

He was born in the village of Karajala, near Telavi, Kakheti, to Azeri parents-Yashar and Lily Usupov.

At the age of 20, he moved to Tbilisi, where he got married and had a daughter.

He later joined Georgia's United National Movement, then led by Zurab Zhvania ( who later became Georgia's Prime Minister ).

He became a close friend of Zhvania and it was in Usupov's flat in Tbilisi that the two men were found dead in the early hours of the morning of 3 February 2005, apparently as a result of a natural gas leak, and with " no sign of foul play ", according to Georgian authorities and FBI officers.