By Margarita Antidze TBILISI, April 1 (Reuters) - Georgia's former president Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who led his country to independence but was ousted in a military coup shortly afterwards, was buried in the capital Tbilisi alongside other prominent Georgians on Sunday. Gamsakhurdia's body was returned to Georgia last week from Russia to be buried for a fourth and final time. Under Gamsakhurdia's brief rule in 1990-1991, Georgia plunged into civil war, which eventually led to two pro-Russian regions of the country breaking away from Tbilisi. The funeral procession started at the Stetitskhoveli cathedral in Georgia's ancient capital Mtskheta, 25 km (15 miles) from Tbilisi. Thousands of people carried portraits of the ex-president, waved Georgian flags and held flowers as they followed the coffin to Tbilisi. "I've been waiting for this day for 14 years, since the death of our beloved president," Lia Bukia, a Tbilisi resident, said, drying tears from her eyes. The coffin, covered with an old-style Georgian flag, was placed for a while in front of parliament in central Tbilisi. People tried to reach out to touch the coffin. shouting "Zviad! Zviad!". The shouting did not even stop for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili when he paid his respects. Despite controversy over Gamsakhurdia's record, Saakashvili has praised the former leader as a statesman and patriot. CONTROVERSY The former president fled his country after the December 1991 coup but returned to fight against the new government of Eduard Shevardnadze, formerly a Soviet foreign minister. Gamsakhurdia died in Western Georgia in December 1993 but foes and supporters still argue over whether the single fatal bullet found in his right temple was self-inflicted. The son of a famous writer, Gamsakhurdia was a prominent dissident during Soviet rule and took power after winning a 1990 parliamentary election, the Soviet Union's first free multi-party vote. He was elected president in May 1991 with more than 80 percent of the vote and led the country of 5 million to independence from the Soviet Union. But many blame him for the woes of Georgia's modern history. Georgia, sandwiched between Turkey and Russia's southern frontier, has suffered economic collapse and lost two regions because of internal conflicts -- Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He was initially buried in Western Georgia, where he died in 1993, but his widow moved to the Russian region of Chechnya soon afterwards and he was reburied there. But a Georgian attempt to repatriate his remains earlier this year found the grave empty. His latest resting place was located when Russian investigators found another grave in the Chechen capital Grozny last month and forensic experts identified the remains as Gamsakhurdia's. Mystery still surrounds the cause of his death as members of his family have refused to allow another examination of his body by Georgian or foreign forensic experts.
