Gia Arsenishvili, a ruling party lawmaker, who chaired parliamentary committee for human rights, died of heart attack on November 17, his colleagues said.

Arsenishvili, who would have turned 69 in January, was elected in the Parliament in 2008 in Telavi single-mandate constituency. MP by-election will be held in this constituency of eastern region of Kakheti in autumn of next year.

“I’ve lost a friend and a long-time advisor,” President Saakashvili said in a written statement paying tribute to the late lawmaker.

In late 90s he was governor of Khakheti region and served as state minister in 2000-2001 and as Georgia’s ambassador to Austria in 2001-2004.