Georgian President Mr Eduard Shevardnadze said today that the murder of a popular television journalist may have been aimed at sowing instability in the country.
Mr Georgi Sanaya (26) one of the former Soviet republic's best-known journalists, was found shot dead in his home last Thursday.
"We should not rule out that we are dealing with a well-planned provocation aimed at creating instability, chaos and alienation between authorities and the Georgian public," Mr Shevardnadze said in his weekly radio address.
Mr Sanaya's death sparked a rally by hundreds of protesters who condemned his death as an attack on free press and called on the government to resign.
The president said investigating the murder was an important priority for Georgia as a young nation building a democracy.
"The responsibility [for the investigation] lies with all of us. I have said many times, we have not completed the construction of a really strong state, able to protect its citizens, especially well-known ones," he said.
Mr Sanaya was a newsreader and political chat show host on the independent Rustavi-2 television station. Police said he was shot with a single bullet to the head.
Georgian journalists said the murder was aimed at silencing free-thinking reporters.
The killers of Mr Georgi Sanaya shot not only at him but at each one of us, said a statement signed by dozens of Georgian journalists.
The authorities bear the responsibility and it would only be logical for the government to resign.
The United States has offered a team from the FBI to help police investigate.
Reuters