Georgian opposition figure died of "natural causes"

LONDON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Georgian businessman and opposition politician Badri Patarkatsishvili died of "natural causes," according to the initial postmortem test results released by British police on Thursday.

"Following initial inquiries and the postmortem carried out last night, Surrey Police can confirm that at this stage there is no indication that the sudden death of Badri Patarkatsishvili was from anything other than natural causes," a spokeswoman said.

"However extensive toxicology testing is yet to be carried out. This will take a number of weeks," she said.

Late Wednesday, police said they had found no radioactive traces in the body of Patarkatsishvili.

It feared that Patarkatsishvili's death may be a repeat of radioactive poisoning of former Russian KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in November 2006.

According to Patarkatsishvili's aides, he died of a heart attack on Tuesday night in Surrey, southeast England.

His former business associate, exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, said he died at about 2300 GMT on Tuesday.

Berezovsky said he had seen Patarkatsishvili that day, and he was not ill but had complained about his heart.

Police were called to an address in Leatherhead in Surrey on Tuesday evening (around 2300 GMT) following the collapse and death of Patarkatsishvili, who is believed to have been 52.

"As with all unexpected deaths it is being treated as suspicious. A postmortem will be held later today (Wednesday) to establish the cause of death," police said in a statement.

Patarkatsishvili, who lived in self-imposed exile in Britain and Israel, financed his own campaign in January's presidential election, which was won by incumbent Mikhail Saakashvili, and he has since been charged with plotting a coup in connection with anti-government protests last year.

A supporter of the Rose Revolution which brought Saakashvili to power in 2004, Patarkatsishvili later turned against the government and began financing opposition parties.

The authorities accused him of offering 100 million U.S. dollars in bribes to a senior police official to help him overthrow the government.

He denied the charge, saying he himself was being targeted in an assassination plot.