Jaba Ioseliani
Encyclopedia
Mkhedrioni
The Mkhedrioni was a paramilitary group and political organisation in the Republic of Georgia, outlawed since 1995 but subsequently reconstituted as the Union of Patriots political party....
organisation.
Born in Khashuri
Khashuri
Khashuri is a town in central Georgia. It is located on the Mtkvari River.Khashuri is first mentioned in the 1693 document. Modern Khashuri was founded in 1872 as a modest railway halt called "Mikhaylovo" after Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia, Viceroy of the Caucasus. In 1917, it was...
, Georgia, Ioseliani majored in Oriental studies at Leningrad University but did not graduate. He staged a bank robbery
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
in 1948, for which he served 17 years in a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
jail. Released in 1965, he later served another sentence for manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
. He eventually returned to his native Georgia and graduated from the Georgian Institute of Theater Arts, where he became a professor. He wrote a number of popular plays.
Ioseliani rose to prominence as the leader of the Mkhedrioni, a heavily-armed paramilitary group which he founded in 1989. He attempted to take control of large areas of Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
and South Ossetia
South Ossetia
South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
with the goal of defeating regional separatist elements. In February 1991, his organisation was outlawed by President Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Gamsakhurdia was a dissident, scientist and writer, who became the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era...
and he was imprisoned along with other Mkhedrioni members. In response, Ioseliani accused Gamsakhurdia of trying to take control of state media and silence rivals.
In December 1991, Ioseliani escaped from prison and joined forces with rebel members of the Georgian National Guard to launch a violent coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
that forced President Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Gamsakhurdia was a dissident, scientist and writer, who became the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era...
out of office in January 1992. He was one of the three leaders of the "Military Council" that ruled Georgia from January–March 1992. He subsequently became a powerful figure in the government of President Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Shevardnadze is a former Soviet, and later, Georgian statesman from the height to the end of the Cold War. He served as President of Georgia from 1995 to 2003, and as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party , from 1972 to 1985. Shevardnadze was responsible for many top decisions on...
, who was forced to rely heavily on Mkhedrioni militiamen because of the weakness of the state security forces. Ioseliani made it clear who he thought was the senior partner: his office in the Georgian Parliament building was located directly above Shevardnadze's and he was constantly surrounded with armed followers wherever he went.
Ioseliani played a major role in the disastrous attempt to enforce Georgian rule in the separatist province of Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
, which ended in a crushing defeat for government and Mkhedrioni forces in August–September 1993. Despite this, he was given a formal government position in September 1993 to enforce a national state of emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
. This gave him almost unlimited powers to detain people. He used these powers enthusiastically, imposing a severely repressive regime that was widely criticised by international human rights organisations. Supporters of the ousted Gamsakhurdia were vigorously targeted, especially in the pro-Gamsakhurdia region of Samegrelo
Samegrelo
Samegrelo/Samargalo or Megrelia, Mingrelia is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly also known as Odishi.It is inhabited by the Megrelians, an ethnic subgroup of the Georgians.-Geography and Climate:...
in western Georgia, where the Mkhedrioni were accused of carrying out a number of extrajudicial killings. There were also widespread allegations that Ioseliani and his supporters were systematically "taxing" businesses and individuals in areas under their control.
On August 29, 1995, Shevardnadze narrowly escaped assassination in a bomb attack. The attack was blamed on a shadowy coalition of "mafia forces" including Ioseliani and others. Ioseliani was detained in November 1998 and held for three years pending trial, then sentenced to 11 years for banditry, terrorism, and conspiring to kill Shevardnadze. He denied the charges and was eventually released in the spring of 2000 in a general amnesty of convicts. He suffered a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on February 26, 2003 and died in a Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
hospital a week later. He is buried in the Pantheon of Didube, Tbilisi, where dirty footmarks are frequently seen on his black marble grave.
External links
- Jaba Ioseliani. Violent warlord in post-Communist Georgia The Independent. 25 March 2003. (access on August 21. 2008)
- Dzhaba Ioseliani, 76; Oft-Imprisoned Leader of Georgian Paramilitary Force Los Angeles Times. March 5, 2003. (access on August 21. 2008)
- RAYMOND BONNER Georgian Fighter Wields Guns, Money and Charm The New York Times. November 16, 1993. (access on August 21. 2008)
- Александр КРЫЛОВ (Aleksandr Krylov) Забытые уроки Джабы Иоселиани (Forgetting lesson of Dzhaba Ioselani) НОВАЯ ПОЛИТИКА (Novaya Politika - New Policy) March 6, 2006. (access on august 21st. 2008) (In Russian)
- Photograph of Jaba Ioseliani
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