in 2005, american journalist malcolm linton displayed his photo materials taken during the war in abkhazia at the art gallery in tbilisi, where shartavas body was identified among the pile of corpses, clearly visible on one of the photographs. on video materials taken during the capture of sukhumi by the militants, shartava is carried out from the government building and physically assaulted, after which he was forced into the van and taken to the outskirts of sukhumi where he was killed with other georgian and abkhaz members of the government and their staff. shartava's body was handed over to the georgian side and was buried in the western georgian city of senaki. in 1994, shartava was officially honored as the national hero of georgia posthumously in 2004.