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Criminal cases opened over murder of Russian diplomat in Abkhazia

The Russian Embassy says the murder is most likely a terrorist attack

Photo ITAR-TASS/Yevgeny Volchkov

Photo ITAR-TASS/Yevgeny Volchkov

SUKHUM, September 9 (Itar-Tass) - The Abkhazian Prosecutor General’s Office opened two criminal cases for premeditated murder and an attempt at premeditated murder over the murder of First Secretary of the Russian Consulate in the Caucasus Republic of Abkhazia Dmitry Vishernev and the wounding of his wife, the republican Prosecutor General’s Office told Itar-Tass on Monday.

The murder of Russian diplomat Dmitry Vishernev in Sukhum is most likely “a terrorist act,” the Russian Embassy in Abkhazia told Itar-Tass by phone.

“All details of the murder show that this was a well-plotted terrorist act,” the Russian diplomatic mission said, noting that experts of the Russian security services will be involved in the investigation of the crime.

First Secretary of the Russian Consulate Dmitry Vishernev, 36, was killed at about 08:30 Moscow time on Monday in Sukhum.

The killer shot at Vishernev at the moment, when he was driving in his service car from the garage, a spokesman of the Sukhum police department told Itar-Tass.

The murder was committed at a house in Nazadze Street in Sukhum, where the Russian diplomat lived in the rented flat.

His wife was staying with Vishernev and she was heavily wounded. She is undergoing treatment at the hospital.

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