Adviser For Georgian Parliament's Chairman Disappears, Versions Of His Kidnapping Are Being Checked Up

26-year-old Petre Tsiskarishvili, member of the Georgian parliament and Speaker's adviser for economic affairs, and his bride, a student, have disappeared under unknown circumstances. As the RIA Novosti correspondent reports, according to one of the versions, Petre Tsiskarishvili and his bride Anna were kidnapped on Monday night by unidentified persons in Tbilisi and were brought out of the city in the BMW, which belonged to the Speaker's adviser, to the Akhmetsky district (Eastern Georgia). The BMW was found on Tuesday in the Pankisi Gorge. It is believed that the kidnapped pair was made to leave the car and continue their way on foot. According to the friends and relatives of the parliamentarian, the last time Petre and Anna were seen on Monday in Tbilisi. At about ten o'clock in the evening they decided to make a car outing in the city, after which both of them have disappeared. According to the relatives, they did not intend to go outside the city. Then, most possible that they were kidnapped in the city. As RIA Novosti was told by the chief of the Georgian Interior Ministry's investigation department, Givi Mgebrishvili, "searches for the missing have started; a searching group and Deputy Interior Minister Kaha Bakuradze have left for the Pankisi George." Twenty-six-year-old Petre Tsiskarishvili, Kakhetia-born (Eastern Georgia), took an active part in the election campaign of the ruling party in the country - the Union of Citizens of Georgia - in that area. In the autumn of 1999 Petre Tsiskarishvili was elected to the Georgian parliament on this party's lists and is now an adviser for economic affairs of the parliament's Chairman Zurab Zhvania. Among the causes of the disappearance of the parliamentarian, the law enforcers name also the version of his professional activity. Quite possible that the crime is connected with settling a personal score with him. It cannot be excluded either that the pair was kidnapped for the sake of receiving a ransom by bandit groups operating in the Pankisi George. The relatives of the parliamentarian and his bride say they do not know anything about the fate of the missing and that nobody rang them up asking for a ransom for their release.